Pieces of Destiny
by AngelDesaray
Summary: Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Padme did not expect to find themselves in an entirely new Galaxy. All they knew was they saw something strange in a reflection. Now they're being told their lives are a movie and they're on some planet called Earth. Will they be able to get back to their own Galaxy? And will Aria, the girl helping them, be able to find a new life with them?
1. Chapter 1: The Puzzle

**_Alright, I was in my room putting my Star Wars puzzle together when this idea came into my mind, and I decided to test it out. So, tell me what you think!_**

**_Disclaimer: I do not own anything star wars (Unfortunately) Nor do I own any song that may appear in this story._**

**_For my The Past Meets the Future fans: I am sorry, writer's block has me stuck, I am muscling through the next chapter little at a time, please be patient with me haha._**

**_Review and Enjoy!_**

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><p>Aria was sprawled out on her bedroom floor, her ear buddies blocking out the world around her while blaring Eminem. She was focused on the puzzle in front of her, determined to finish it before she retired for the night.<p>

"I'm friends with the monster that's under my bed. Get along with the voices inside of my head. You're trying to save me, stop holding your breath. And you think I'm crazy, yeah, you think I'm crazy; well, that's nothing. Well, that's nothing," Aria sang softly to herself as she carefully placed the pieces of the 3D puzzle that made up Anakin Skywalker's face from Attack of the Clones. She'd already branched off and finished Padme and Obi-Wan, though several of the pieces that made up Anakin's face were giving her some trouble.

A light flipped on in the hallway, catching Aria's eye. She pulled out one of her ear buddies just in time to hear her mother's voice.

"Aria, it's almost eleven, go to bed!" her mother said just loud enough so Aria would hear. She didn't want to wake up Aria's little brother and sister by accident.

"In a second mom, I'm almost done," Aria answered.

"Go to bed!"

Aria rolled her eyes and didn't answer, picking up her pace. If she hurried, she could at least finish up Anakin. She didn't really care much to do Dooku and Jango Fett, all she really wanted to finish was the part with Anakin. Even if he became Darth Vader for the original trilogy, he was her favorite character. She had an obsession with star wars, and he was at the top of it all. If Anakin Skywalker or Hayden Christensen had anything to do with it, she was there.

Aria glanced back at the clock on her bookshelf with a grimace. She had to go to school tomorrow, and it was getting late. She was going to regret staying up so late in the morning, that much she was sure of. With a sigh, she fitted the last piece of Anakin into place, smiling a little to herself as she looked admiringly down at the picture. She loved how it looked like Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Padme would come out of the picture at any moment, especially Anakin. He took up most of the puzzle, right at the center of the entire picture.

She shook her head with a sigh, quickly changing into her pajamas and turning off the light before she crawled into bed. Lazily, she reached for the alarm clock, making sure that it was set for seven o'clock before she let her eyelids droop shut.

As she slept, dreams of Star Wars, Anakin, and daring rescues played through her mind, filled with the flash of lightsabers and a reality where Anakin never became Darth Vader…

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><p>Anakin and Padme were taking one of their many strolls through the halls of Varykino, talking about anything and everything to pass the time away. As Padme laughed at a joke Anakin had cracked, he glanced towards the glass of one of the many windows. He would have just kept walking, if he hadn't noticed the strange picture that was reflected in the glass; and it wasn't himself that he was seeing in the reflection.<p>

A peculiar picture of a teenage girl asleep in her bed could be seen, but just faintly. Padme noticed his distraction and tried to get his attention.

"Anakin, what is it?" she asked him. She had not yet seen the strange scene in the glass as he had.

"Do you see that?" Anakin asked, hoping he wasn't going crazy.

Padme sighed in light frustration that he had jumped around her question before following his gaze. Her frustration turned to a gaze of curiosity as she drew closer to the window.

"Do you know—" she started.

"No idea," Anakin responded, drawing closer. The closer he came to the window, the clearer the image became, and the more he could see. Almost self-consciously, he stretched out his hand to see if the image would disappear if he touched it…

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><p>Obi-Wan had just gotten out of his Jedi Starfighter when a glimmer of an image out of the corner of his eyes caught his attention. Obi-Wan's hand flew to his lightsaber, ready to ward off an oncoming attacker, before he realized it had simply been a reflection in the glass of the Starfighter. What caused him to pause was the fact that it was not his own reflection he was seeing in the glass.<p>

Frowning, Obi-Wan drew closer, studying the strange scene in the glass. He drew ever closer to the picture, taking in the image with sharp eyes. As if to see if the image was real, Obi-Wan stretched out his hand to touch the glass…

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><p>A quiet thud and a soft spoken curse woke Aria from her slumber. She blinked owlishly, rising up in her bed and glancing around the dark room. Was her mother trying to find something hidden under the pile of junk on her desk..?<p>

Aria stiffened when she caught sight of a silhouette that did not belong to her mother, nor her father, nor anyone else that lived in the house. Suddenly wide awake, Aria reached over as silently and inconspicuously as she could towards the nightstand on the other side of her bed. She quietly opened the drawer, taking in the fact that there were three strange silhouettes in her room.

Doing her best to keep her erratic heartbeat in control, Aria got a firm grip on the barbeque skewer in the top drawer. Suddenly she was very glad she'd kept the extras from her science experiment in the drawer, even if she'd only put them in there because she had nowhere else to put them.

The skewer in her hand chinked against something else in the drawer—possibly the edge of the nigh—and she froze.

Several things happened at once.

All three silhouettes moved, as did Aria. She held the skewer out in front of her in a defensive position, sitting up in bed and ready to fight tooth and nail against the intruders for her life, whether it was a lost cause or not.

There was a _snap, hiss_ sound Aria had only ever heard in movies, and two brilliant blue lights suddenly illuminated her room, blinding Aria for a moment. However, she didn't lower her defenses, even if she couldn't see anything.

When her eyes adjusted to the new light in the room, Aria stared, unbelieving of what she was seeing. Her brain seemed unable to process what was right in front of her.

As if acting in confirmation of what she was seeing, the barbeque skewer flew out of her hand and into the outstretched palm of…Obi-Wan Kenobi? Ewan McGregor in his Star Wars get-up? She couldn't decide which one was more likely.

Still frozen, Aria stared at the blue…blue lightsaber blade that was pointed at her, a few inches away from her in fact. The brilliant light lit up…Anakin Skywalker or Hayden Christensen's features in an eerie way.

The hum of the blade and the heat that came off of it caused Aria to be even more sure that this wasn't the actors she was staring at. But at the same time…it was too hard to believe it was the characters. She blinked a few times, trying to see if they would disappear.

They were still in her room, right in front of her, and now they seemed to be talking too.

"Who are you?" Anakin/Hayden asked her.

Aria was at a loss for words for a few moments as she very slowly got out of bed, trying not to think of the fact she was in her blue sweatpants and a volunteer t-shirt from two years back. Hesitantly, she pointed a finger at Anakin/Hayden.

"Anakin?" she said, half asking, half stating. Shock graced his features instantly, but Aria kept going. She pointed at Obi-Wan/Ewan next. "Obi-Wan…"

Obi-Wan had a little more control over his expression, though Aria could tell that he was still surprised from her knowing who Anakin was. Aria turned to the third figure, now positive these were not actors she was facing.

"And Padme?" Aria asked softly.

She heard the sound of a lightsaber deactivating behind her and stiffened as…Anakin (She was going to have to get used to that) grabbed her arm and spun her around. "How do you know us? Who _are_ you?"

"I think the _real_ question is what are you _doing_ here?" Aria shot back. She was still reeling from finding the characters of Star Wars in her bedroom. Yet somehow she still managed to ask questions. Figures. Even if she wasn't capable of giving answers, she could still ask plenty of questions.

"Who are you?" Anakin asked again. She should have known better. Anakin always was stubborn. He wouldn't give answers unless he got answers in return.

"Aria. Neads," she replied shortly. "And I would much appreciate it if you would lower your voice considering my one year old sister is asleep in the room next to us."

Obi-Wan stepped forward, shooting Anakin a look that must have signaled him to let go of her. "Could you tell us where we are?" he asked her. "And how you know us for that matter."

Aria bit her lip. Should she really tell them…

"Well…first of all…I have no idea how but you three are in the wrong Galaxy," she started.

Padme stepped forward. "Excuse me; the wrong _Galaxy?_"

Aria nodded. "Yeah…you're on Earth, in the Milky Way Galaxy. Though, I know you have no clue about us, I mean, I have no clue where in the universe _your_ Galaxy is. I just know it's far, far away from here."

Aria smiled inwardly at the irony of what she had just said. _Though apparently not a long time ago…_

"I highly doubt we're in another Galaxy," Anakin scoffed.

"Use your instincts Anakin, she's not lying," Obi-Wan reprimanded him.

"No, I'm not," she chipped in. Aria was doing her best not to openly stare at Anakin, not sure what she was feeling as she stared at him. "I mean, look at what I'm wearing: there is no way we are from the same Galaxy."

"You still haven't answered how you know us," Anakin shot back, his eyes mistrusting. Aria didn't miss the fact that he still hadn't let go of his lightsaber, apparently ready to draw it at any moment.

Aria hesitated. "Because I'm not so sure if I should…" she said slowly.

Anakin scowled while Obi-Wan turned away to examine the room. Aria did her best not to blush as he examined her Vampire Diaries posters, her Chuck Norris poster, her random pop star posters…

Suddenly she remembered what was sitting on her dresser, in the open, where they could all see.

"I'm sorry, excuse me, I need to…" she mumbled hastily, fading into in coherence as she scrambled to pick up the star wars stuff she had spread out across the surface of her dresser. Of course that only drew their attention as she nimbly sidestepped Obi-Wan. The only ones she was seriously concerned with picking up was the Emperor Palpatine labeled action figure and the Anakin Skywalker from Episode IV figure that had Vader's story on it. _Those_ where what she was the most concerned about.

Those and the box set labeled _Star Wars_ with both Luke and Anakin on it.

As Aria shoveled those three items into her arms, Obi-Wan snatched up the action figure of himself from Episode III.

"Chuba!" Aria whispered under her breath as she shoveled away what she had managed to snag. There was still an Episode I Yoda and Episode III Anakin on the dresser. Anakin was currently picking up the action figure of himself while Padme carefully picked up the action figure of Yoda.

"Do you care to explain this?" Obi-Wan demanded, sounding much as he did when he scolded Anakin. It caused Aria to flinch.

"Right, that…" she said evasively.

"Anakin Skywalker: Saga Legends—Star Wars _Revenge of the Sith_! Anakin Skywalker undertakes a daring rescue mission in his Jedi Starfighter. Anakin blasts attacking Separatist Droid fighters as he and Obi-Wan Kenobi battle their way to General Grievous' ship to free the _kidnapped _Chancellor Palpatine," Anakin read off the back of the action figure of himself. He immediately turned on Aria. "I want an explanation! What is this? What is going on here?"

"I'd like an explanation too for the matter," Obi-Wan said, waving around the action figure of himself in her face.

Aria ran a hand down her face, rubbing her eyes as she tried to figure out what to say. What could she say? 'Hey, you guys are fictional characters in a movie in my Galaxy! What do you know!'

It was amusing how they were all having such an intense conversation in hushed tones though. No one had forgotten the fact that there was a sleeping infant in the room next door.

"Listen…I know this is going to sound really strange…" Aria started slowly.

"I don't think it can get any stranger than it is already. Another Galaxy? A girl who mysteriously instantly recognizes us though we've never seen her in our lives? Little…mini-figures of us! What's going on?" Anakin demanded.

"In my Galaxy your lives are a movie! A series for entertainment! No one thinks you're real, they think you're all just fictional characters!" Aria shot back at him.

"What are you talking about?" Anakin exclaimed.

"Your lives are a story for us! You know, entertainment. Like a…a…ah kriff what's the word…" Aria muttered, snapping her fingers as she wracked her brains for the word. "Like a Holodrama! Like a Holofilm! Except we don't have hologram technology, and it's just movies, films. But it's basically the same thing."

Understanding flickered across their features for a moment before the questioning resumed. "Well then how—"

Aria held up her hands in surrender, cutting off Anakin. "I don't know! Like I just said, everyone thinks this stuff is fake, no one knows you're real!"

Obi-Wan shook his head. "Do you have any idea how we got here?"

Aria shook her head. "No clue."

"You've got to have some idea!" Anakin exclaimed.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Aria shot back tiredly. "But right now I'm too tired to think. It's…"

She glanced at her alarm clock and groaned. "It's three in the morning and I have to go to school in four hours. I'd like to get some more sleep before then. I have a friend there that might be able to come up with some idea of what's going on, I can ask him about this tomorrow."

"How do we know we can trust you?" Anakin asked suspiciously.

"Oh Ani, I've heard enough! She hasn't done anything to hurt us and she's obviously as confused and shocked as we are! Give her a break!" Padme snapped at him lightly. "I don't like being stuck in another Galaxy either, but we're obviously not going to get all of the answers that we would like right now. She's right, she needs rest."

"And we might be better off seeing this friend of hers that could give us some answers," Obi-Wan added.

"Right now is not the time to see him, just…let me get some rest and we can deal with this when we're all well rested," Aria said wearily.

"I agree with…Aria, was it?" Obi-Wan asked. Aria nodded in confirmation.

Anakin sighed in frustration. "Alright, fine; but where are we going to rest, huh?"

Aria ran a hand through her hair. "I really don't feel like waking up my parents to tell them that you're here so the best I can do is some pillows and blankets on a clear floor," she said sheepishly.

"That's alright," Obi-Wan said gently. Aria relaxed slightly before she quietly excused herself from the room to get the pillows and blankets stashed in the bathroom.

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><p>Anakin stared after the blonde girl as she left the room before turning to Obi-Wan. "I don't trust her Master. Really? Another Galaxy? Our lives as holofilms? I just don't believe it!"<p>

"We have evidence right in front of us Anakin," Obi-Wan responded, gesturing towards the girls action figures of themselves. It was a rather disconcerting sight for him to see: a small figure of himself…though right now it wasn't accurate. Though if Anakin didn't have a braid, maybe it was a future form of them…

"Still, why should we trust her?" Anakin asked. "What grounds do we have to trust her on?"

"Padme was right Anakin. You should listen to her. She has a point. Aria hasn't done anything to cause us harm, or revealed any intentions to cause us harm."

"Well if what she says is true about our lives being holofilms than I expect some more proof. That I find very hard to believe."

Obi-Wan frowned. "I just want to see what these…_Star Wars_ movies are like…if only to see if they're accurate…"

"But right now is not the time," Padme reminded them both.

Anakin appeared to agree, wilting a little in submission. "Fine. It can wait."

At that moment, Aria returned, toting an armful of pillows and blankets of all shapes and colors with her. She dropped them on the floor with a sigh, clearing out a large enough spot for the three of them on her bedroom floor.

"I think I can pull off a mattress from my bed, but other than that, this is the best I've got," Aria said sheepishly.

"That's all right, we'll make due," Obi-Wan told her.

Aria quietly pulled off one of the mattresses off of her bed, dragging it onto the floor with as little noise as she could. She started to pass out the blankets and pillows to them before they were finally able to shoo her away, convincing her that they were perfectly capable of making their own beds, and that they would be fine.

Anakin ran through a list of complaints for being stuck sleeping on the floor of this strange girl's floor on the planet called Earth in his head as he lied down on her cold wooden floor, pulling the large patchwork blanket she had given him around himself. The girl was quick to fall asleep again, leaving the other three to fall into sleep gradually and uneasily.

Padme was the first to fall asleep, and not too long afterwards Obi-Wan did, leaving Anakin as the only one awake. Something twisted uneasily in his gut as he stared up at the white ceiling, trying to process what was happening.

Something told him that there were many secrets that this Galaxy held to all of their fates, secrets that Aria. Surely they had been sent here for a reason? And surely the girl knew more than she was letting on?

Before Anakin allowed himself to fall into unconsciousness, he vowed he would find out what Aria knew.

One way or another.


	2. Chapter 2: Just Blend In

_**Hey look, chapter two ;D**_

_**I'm so glad that you guys like this story! I didn't expect it to get this much attention so soon! Wow!**_

_**Thank you for the Reviews!**_

_**I hope you guys stick with me through the story!**_

**Enjoy!**

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><p>The sound of the alarm startled Aria right out of her slumber.<p>

After recovering from her miniature heart attack, Aria grit her teeth together as the annoying sound of her alarm grated her nerves. Usually she woke up before the stupid thing went off, though last night she had been particularly tired…

With a start, Aria remembered the three people that had showed up in her bedroom last night. As she shut off the alarm, she squeezed her eyes shut and counted to three. Perhaps it had all been a dream…

"What the kriff was that?" came a disgruntled voice from the floor beside her bed.

Aria bristled a little, almost disbelieving as she cracked her eyelids open enough to see Anakin glaring up at her in annoyance from being woken up so unpleasantly.

Alas, it had not been a dream. She was housing three Star Wars characters in her room like fugitives.

"My alarm clock," she grumbled sleepily, rubbing her eyes tiredly. She groaned. "Arg, I don't want to get up…"

"She sounds like you Anakin," came Obi-Wan's muffled voice. He was still face down in his own pillow, apparently—somehow—unfazed by the loud and annoying sound of the alarm.

Aria sighed and rolled out of the bed, stumbling a little before she regained her balance. The other three were also getting to their feet, and she turned to study them for a moment. Apparently her analytical gaze made them uncomfortable, because it didn't take Anakin long to snap at her.

"What are you staring at?"

Aria shook her head. "I'm sizing you up. There is _no way_ that you're going to blend in if you walk around like that. Especially not out here. Here…"

Aria crossed the room to one of her dressers, digging out some of the clothes her father had passed down to her out of the bottom of the drawer. She tossed the two plain long sleeve shirts—one blue and one grey turtleneck—at Obi-Wan and Anakin before digging out her two baggy, boyish jeans and tossing them to the two as well. One pair was black, one was blue.

"Try those on, see if they fit. Padme, try these." Aria handed Padme one of her smaller shirts and skinny jeans. Padme was much more petite than Aria. "Anakin, Obi-Wan, your boots should be fine. Padme, I think a pair of my mother's sneakers might fit you."

Aria gathered up a change of clothes for herself before she paused, trying to think of somewhere for everyone to change. "Ah…Padme, there's a closet in the hall you can change in if you want…I'm going to be in the bathroom. Don't leave this room even when you're done please?"

"Sure," Anakin said slowly, sharing a look with Obi-Wan. Aria ignored it and ushered for Padme to follow her.

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><p>After she showered and changed, Aria hurried back to her room where the three were exploring, much to her concern. It was kind of creepy how normal they almost looked, and Anakin looked smoking hot in the turtleneck. Other than the lightsabers the guys had clipped onto their jeans, they looked rather normal.<p>

It seemed Obi-Wan had found her toy lightsaber. He held it up to ask, but Aria answered before he could say it.

"It's a toy; completely fake. My brother has one too and we chase each other around with them. Mostly to wear him down so that he doesn't drive my parents crazy," Aria said hastily.

Anakin, however, had found her puzzle.

"What's this?" he asked, his voice perhaps a little higher than normal.

"It's the puzzle I was doing before I went to bed last night. Still don't believe that your lives are movies here?"

Anakin shot her a look. "Forgive me for being skeptical."

"Yes, that is still a little hard to believe," Obi-Wan added.

Aria, now fully awake and annoyed at their stubborn skepticism of her, spun on her heel and turned to Obi-Wan first.

"Satine Kryze, Siri Tachi, and Cerasi. By the way, you're going to see Satine again soon. As a bodyguard of sorts again, ironically."

Aria turned on Anakin next, ignoring the look of complete shock on Obi-Wan's face. For Anakin's sake, she kept her voice lowered when she told him this specific thing. "When you crafted your lightsaber, you had a vision not only of your mother under attack by a shadowy figure, but also of Darth Maul. The vision of Maul tried to lure you to the dark side and tossed you a red light saber, but you ignored him until he mentioned your mother. That got a reaction out of you, and you charged him, though he destroyed your training lightsaber. You got rid of the vision, and we both know what he said before he disappeared. When the vision was over the lightsaber in your lap was the exact same one you had envisioned, and the same one that he threw you; except the blade was blue. You never told anyone."

_Thank goodness for Wookieepedia. It looks like all that time I spent reading their entire life story in legends just came in handy_, Aria thought to herself.

She tried to ignore the look on Anakin's face—a strange cross between rage, fear, confusion, and surprise—as she turned to Padme, speaking as quietly as she had with Anakin.

"Padme. Come on, you're not fooling anyone; you're just as smitten by him as he is you. I actually admire you for holding out as long as you have. There's no way I would last as long as you have." Aria's expression softened a little. "And I'm sorry for your recent loss of Corde," she added quietly.

With that, Aria put her hands on her hips, looking each of them in the eyes for several moments. "Now, are we going to keep arguing over whether or not I'm legit and telling the truth, or are we going to start asking some actual questions? For example: how did you get here, how do you get back, why are you even here in the first place?"

"It is…probably some will of the Force that brought us here," Obi-Wan told her slowly. He eyed her wearily, as if she was a bomb that might go off at any moment. She must have unnerved them all with what she knew. Oh well. She could have brought up worse.

Aria inclined her head towards him. "I could see that, though we still have to figure out how you got here, how to get you back, and what the will of the Force is while you're here."

Padme approached her. "You said you were going to talk to your friend?"

Aria nodded. "His name is Parker, he knows a lot like I do though…he's more of an expert with…the dark side and its users," she said, giving a nervous laugh. "But he's a great kid! He just tends to know the stuff that I don't know. And he's big on travel between universes and galaxies and the rules of time and all that stuff. I've got too much in my head to try and cram all of that 'law of time' stuff into my mind."

"Can he be trusted?" Anakin asked, obviously focusing on the bit about how Parker was an expert with the dark side.

Aria rolled her eyes. "I said he knew a lot about the dark side, not that he practiced it. He knows a lot about the Sith, but he isn't a Sith. Far from it in fact."

"Well then what are we waiting for? Let's go talk to him," Anakin stated impatiently.

"We're waiting for my father to leave with my brother so that you guys aren't spotted leaving the house with me. I'll introduce you to the family and explain things to them later after school." Aria paused, thinking over what she said. "Actually, I'll introduce you after work. I forgot I work today too."

Anakin sighed. "Fine. Why don't you try and fill us in about your planet while we're stuck in here?"

Aria laughed a little under her breath, leaning against her dresser as she crossed her arms. "Well, we're _way_ behind in technology compared to you guys. Our planet only has seven billion people on it, and so far, to our knowledge, we're the only life forms in our Galaxy. Though our climates on Earth go to as cold as Hoth to as hot and dry as Tatooine. As well as tropics like Felucia and Naboo. We don't have Jedi, we have ninjas. We don't have lightsabers, or blasters, or starfighters. We have guns, and rockets, and the atom bomb. Right now you're in Missouri, a state in the United States of America, or just America if you want to be brief. We have countries like you have planets in the Republic by the way, in case that was confusing."

"Sounds…interesting," Obi-Wan mused.

"Yeah, well, it's just Earth," Aria said, crossing the room to peek out the window. She smiled a little to herself. "It looks like my father and brother already left. We can go downstairs now and grab something to eat before we leave."

"Where are you taking us again?" Anakin asked suspiciously.

"To my school. My friend Parker is there, and I'm going to ask him what he thinks, see if we can get any useful information from him. Though I will warn you; prepare to be bombarded with questions and theories," Aria told him.

"Fun," Anakin said sarcastically.

Aria gestured for them to follow her, and they all quietly filed downstairs to the empty kitchen. The three looked around curiously, taking in the sights of Earth outside of Aria's bedroom.

Aria made a beeline for the fridge, keeping track of what time it was as she dug around in the fridge. "All right, I've got milk, some orange juice, and some strawberry kiwi juice. Whichever one you want to try."

"I'll have the bantha milk," Anakin said, sounding a little distracted. Aria snickered.

"It's not bantha milk. We don't have bantha's, we have cows," Aria chuckled. That caused Anakin to hesitate slightly, but he didn't say otherwise.

"I'll take the orange juice," Obi-Wan told her.

"I'll try the strawberry keewee juice," Padme said.

"Kiwi," Aria corrected with a smile as she poured everyone's drinks. She gave everyone their glass and dug around in the pantry for the poptarts she knew were in there. "Where are those stupid things?" she muttered to herself.

"What are you looking for?" Obi-Wan asked curiously.

Aria spotted them. "Don't worry, I found it. Poptarts: portable, edible, decent, and warm," she chuckled to herself as she pulled the box off the shelf and hooked up the toaster.

She saw the skeptic look on their faces and smiled, shaking her head. "They're good, don't worry. I'm going to go outside and start up the vehicle real quick," she informed them, trotting out the door.

Outside, she started the car, rubbing her hands together to try and warm them up as she surveyed the snowy ground and trees around her.

_Force I hate the cold_, she thought to herself. She smiled a little. She'd decided to start trying to get in the habit of using terms and phrases from the Star Wars universe. It would probably help the other three to feel more comfortable.

After making sure her CD case was there in the car, she got out and headed back into the house.

The three had been gathered together, talking in hushed tones in the corner, drinks in hand. As she entered, they stopped talking, though Aria brushed her initial reaction of offense off. She didn't think she had gained their entire trust yet, and she wouldn't expect it so soon anyway.

She got the first pair of poptarts out of the toaster and offered it to them. "Who's going to be brave and try them first?"

Just as she suspected, putting the offer in the form of a challenge coaxed a reaction from Anakin first. He took them out of her hands before anyone else could move.

Aria chuckled, popping in the next set as Anakin took a hesitant first bite. "So?" she asked, assessing his facial features.

He looked mildly impressed. "All right, I admit, these are good," Anakin said sheepishly.

"Told you," Aria chuckled.

Once everyone had their quick breakfast, she handed out hats and gloves. "It's cold outside, so…" she explained sheepishly. Obi-Wan and Padme were still finishing up their last Poptart as they all filed out the door.

Anakin's eyebrows raised as he took in the cherry red with black racing stripes 2008 Chevy Cobalt SS she had been lucky to find at a car dealership in a nearby town. "No, ah, speeders?"

Aria shook her head. "No repulsorlift technology whatsoever. Sorry."

Anakin sighed a little. "It's all right, it won't bother me."

Aria laughed. "Don't worry, I'm a good driver…despite recently getting my license." She opened the driver's side door. "Anakin, you can sit in the passenger side if you want. Obi-Wan, Padme, there're two seats in the back on either side. My sister's car seat takes up the middle of the seat."

They all glanced at each other but obliged, taking the respective seat. Luckily, the car had enough time to warm up, so they all thawed out rather quickly as Aria backed out of the driveway.

Aria tapped Anakin's knee, pointer towards her CD case. "Could you pick a CD out there and hand it to me. I hate driving without some of my music," she explained, keeping her eyes on the road. "While we're out in public by the way, try to blend in. And try to keep a low profile because there are famous people who look _exactly_ like you, and if people mistake you for them…they will be _all_ over you," she explained to everyone.

Obi-Wan and Padme nodded their understanding while Anakin shrugged in response, flipping through the CD case as he hid his momentary confusion at the sight of the disks and searched through the titles.

He paused, and Aria could almost feel the change of mood in the car.

"What about this one?" he asked smoothly, handing a CD to her. She glanced at the title and mentally cursed.

Of course he would pick the one titled Aria's Star Wars Mash-Up.

She sighed. "Alright," she said, popping it in the CD player.

"Are you going to tell us anything about this movie that's supposedly about our lives by the way?" Anakin asked, eyeing the slot she had put the CD in.

"Eventually. I'm going to ask Parker about a few things first before I say anything more about what I know," Aria said slowly. "I don't want to mess something up and cause some really bad consequences…"

"We'll stop asking then, if you're that worried about it," Obi-Wan said suddenly from the back.

Anakin looked like he was about to disagree, but the look on Obi-Wan's face stopped it.

Aria sighed. _This is going to be a long day…_


	3. Chapter 3: Meet My Nerd

_**Lookie here! A new chapter! I'm having fun writing this, and my brain is already throwing all sorts of ideas at me hehehehe**_

_**I can't wait ;D**_

_**Yet again, I do not own any of the songs in here! Though if you want to watch the tribute videos that Aria got the songs from, I'll list them at the end of the chapter, and any other time there's tribute videos referenced, so you can see them.**_

_**Anyway, thanks for the reviews, and Enjoy!**_

* * *

><p>"Time waits for no one, so do you want to waste some time, oh, oh tonight? Don't be afraid of tomorrow, just take my hand, I'll make it feel so much better tonight…suddenly my eyes are open, everything comes into focus, oh. We are all illuminated, lights are shining on our faces, blinding."<p>

Aria tapped out the beat of the first song on the CD—Illuminated, by Hurts. This was also one of her favorite Star Wars Tributes on Youtube. In fact, every song on the album had a tribute that went with it, and she could see the video clearly in her mind as she sang along with the song.

"Swim with these sorrows and try delusion for a while; it's such a beautiful lie. You've got to lose inhibition—romance your ego for a while; come on, give it a try. Suddenly my eyes are open; everything comes into focus, oh. We are all illuminated, lights are shining on our faces, blinding. We are all, we are all, _blinded!_ We are all, we are all, _blinded!_"

Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Padme all watched her curiously. "This is a Star Wars soundtrack you created?" Anakin asked her.

She blushed, glancing at him. "Yes, it is."

"Do you think there's anything you could tell us about it?" Anakin asked.

"Anakin—" Obi-Wan started.

"No, it's fine Obi-Wan," Aria reassured him. "Ah, well…there're six episodes in the movie series. Three about you guys and three about a different generation. The first one was set…ten years ago for you guys. And the second one is probably where you were. Halfway through it I'd say," she added, glancing down at Anakin's still intact right arm he was currently resting his head against.

Anakin sat a little straighter. "Well if the first one has already happened, can we watch it, see these movies for ourselves?"

Aria hesitated. "Maybe."

"And what about the three not about us? Could we watch those too?" Anakin asked.

"No," Aria said immediately. "No, those talk about what happened to you quite a bit."

Anakin scowled. "Fine."

The song had switched. Now it was Hurricane by 30 Seconds to Mars feat. Kanye West. Aria smiled, turning the volume up a little. "Oh, I love this song. Heck, I love all of these, but still."

"How'd you pick these?" Anakin asked. Aria didn't miss the fact he had taken an interest to both songs so far and seemed to like them.

"They're almost all songs on tributes. I like the songs and the videos, so I decided to make a collection of the songs that I could listen to," Aria explained.

Anakin nodded. "I see."

The artist finally started singing and Aria found herself singing along softly again. This time the others listened, probably sensing the darker nature of the song.

"No matter how many times that you told me you wanted to leave; no matter how many breaths that you took, you still couldn't breathe. No matter how many nights that you lie wide awake to the sound of poison rain; where did you go? Tell me would you kill to save a life? Tell me would you kill to prove you're right? Crash, crash, burn, let it all burn; this hurricane's chasing us all underground..."

"They're a little dark, don't you think?" Obi-Wan asked seriously as the song came to a close.

Aria found herself blushing again. "Maybe. It's just the tribute songs, and they fit what happens really well."

"What _happens_?" Obi-Wan echoed. The way he said it almost sounded like a question.

"I need to shut up," Aria muttered as Savin' Me by Nickleback—her all-time favorite tribute video song—came on. "Listen, I'll show you the first movie if you really want to see it, and I'll even show you the Clone Wars movie perhaps, depending on how this conversation with Parker goes. Just…trust me when I say I don't want to show you the other ones for a reason."

Anakin gave a huff of frustration, gaining control of his temper before he gave her an obviously forced smile. "Well, I like the songs."

"I do too," Aria said easily. "Now…when we get there, I'm going to run inside and bring him out to the car. I can't keep you with me I'm afraid, and I can't send you back home, so if you don't mind you can hang around the local library until lunch. I can scrounge up a few sandwiches for you if you're there around 11:30. I'll show you where I'll be so you know where to go, and I'll point the library out as we go past so you know where you'll be staying until then. You'll have to stay there because I can't take you through school with me. There's no way you will blend in, and the only person remotely close to being able to blend in as a high school student is Anakin, and even then it's not going to work."

"It won't be a problem. It will give us a little longer to adjust," Obi-Wan told her, as diplomatic and calm as ever.

The song changed yet again, and Aria grinned as Fight Inside by Red came on, singing the first few lines to herself. "Enemy, familiar friend; my beginning and my end. Knowing truth, whispering lies…and it hurts again. What I fear, and what I try. The words I say and what I hide. All the pain, I want it too end. But I want it again. And it finds me; the fight inside is coursing through my veins. And its raging. The fight inside is breaking me again. Still the same, pursuing pain; isn't worth the lie I've gained. We both know how this will end; but I'd do it again…"

"Are we almost there?" Padme asked in the back. She sounded as if the songs—apparently picked to match their lives—were bothering her. Anakin seemed to be rather enjoying them, though that much Aria had expected. Most of them were based on him. Here and there were ones based on both him and Luke.

"Yeah, almost," Aria told her. She grew quiet as she thought of the videos of the songs they were listening to, and it finally hit her. All of those things; Anakin basically selling his soul to save Padme, the loss of Anakin's mother, the fight between Anakin and Obi-Wan, Anakin slaughtering everyone in the Jedi Temple and at the Separatist base on Mustafar, the Empire, Luke's loss of his hand to Anakin, Anakin killing Obi-Wan…

So many bad things…and all of them real.

_But not yet_, Aria's mind whispered to her. _No, this is before Anakin's mother even dies; it's in the way he looks. There's not as much darkness in him as after that event. They're possibly even from before he kisses Padme—there's still time to save them from that fate. You can save them from all of those horrid things, you can change Anakin's future like in your fanfictions: like in your dreams._

"What are you thinking?" Anakin asked her.

"Hmm?" Aria asked. She'd been so lost in her thoughts that he'd caught her off guard.

Anakin studied her. "Your emotions are all over the place. What are you thinking about?"

Aria chuckled darkly. "Lots of things, really. You guys showing up here…it's really got me thinking about a lot of things."

Anakin gave her a funny look, but said nothing. Suddenly uncomfortable, Aria couldn't help but hope that he hadn't sensed anything that gave him a clue about what happened to him.

* * *

><p>Anakin kept a close eye on Aria for the rest of the ride. The songs really had appealed to him; they really had seemed to speak to him on some deeper level. However, when Aria had started to think…he hadn't missed how somber and grievous she had become, almost like she was mourning something that had happened, or would happen. And Anakin couldn't help but feel that it had something to do with them. She knew about something bad that was going to happen to them, and she wouldn't tell them for whatever reason.<p>

He sighed, casting his thoughts elsewhere as he nodded along to the song that was currently playing—All Alone, by a group called Kutless was what Aria had said. He figured he should probably be a little bothered that he was connecting to such dark songs, but at the moment, he didn't want to think about it. He had enough stuff to figure out what as it was.

"There's the library you guys will have to stay in," Aria suddenly said, drawing Anakin out of his thoughts. He looked at the single story stone building, decently large, but not that big compared to the buildings he had seen in his life. "It's heated, and there's plenty of books to look at while you're in there, so it should be a nice place to lie low until I can get out of school," Aria continued.

"And where would you're school be?" Obi-Wan asked, leaning forward from the back seat. Both Anakin and Obi-Wan had been keeping their senses attuned through the Force throughout the entire trip. Anakin could tell his Master was not comfortable around Aria right now, undoubtedly because of what could possibly be gleaned from her music preference.

"Right here, right down the street," Aria informed them, turning into a wide paved area filled with the same kind of vehicles. "You won't have to go far, don't worry."

Aria parked the vehicle, getting out. They all followed suit, though she quickly stopped them from following her. "Stay here, I'll be right out."

Anakin scowled, but did as she asked, leaning against the vehicle and watching her hurry inside the three story stone building. Was everything in this Galaxy made out of wood and stone?

"What do you think of her?" Obi-Wan asked Anakin as Anakin pulled at the fabric of the long-sleeved, long-necked shirt.

"She seems fine. I still don't sense any ill intent from her; I think she only wants the best for us," Anakin said thoughtfully.

"I don't know…something about her in the vehicle makes me feel uneasy…" Obi-Wan muttered.

"I don't think it's what was Aria that made you feel uneasy Master. I think it was those songs, and the thought that they were all meant to match our lives…even she felt uneasy with that thought; I could sense it from her."

Obi-Wan gave him a small smile. "Oh really my young Padawan? Your senses were that attuned, even more-so than mine?"

Anakin smirked. "Yes, they were."

Obi-Wan sighed. "Well, I'm still going to keep an eye on her."

"You do that Master," Anakin said. "I'll focus on how we're going to get back home."

Obi-Wan gave a sigh of exasperation, but said nothing more.

* * *

><p>Aria rushed inside the school, weaving through the crowd of people gathered in the doorway, ignoring their complaints when she bumped into them. Once she was free of the initial group, she made her way across the gym to the corner that she and her friends would stay in until school actually started. She was lucky, because at the moment there was only Parker up in the corner.<p>

She trotted up the bleachers, coming to a stop in front of him. "Hey Parker."

Parker looked up, ruffling his short crop of red hair as Aria approached, his blue eyes looking as anxious as ever. "It's about time you showed up Aria. I was beginning to think you never would."

Aria shrugged. "I got held up."

"Oh, I read another chapter of your story last night—" Parker started, but Aria cut him off.

"Listen, Parker, I don't have time to talk about that today. I need you to come with me to me car, I want to show you something."

Parker gave her a curious look, his freckled face scrunching up. "What for, can't you just bring it here and show me?"

Aria laughed. "Ha! No. Come on, I need to show you this." When he didn't get up immediately, she pulled his small form up. "Come on, we're running on a short schedule," Aria said.

"What's so kriffing important?" Parker asked. Aria did her best to ignore the stares she was getting as she dragged him outside. Dang, they were probably going to be gossiping like crazy that she and Parker did it in her car or something for the next year.

Just her luck.

Aria dragged Parker out the door. "Now, I know you're not going to believe me on this, but you have to keep an open mind, all right?"

"What did you bring a Jedi Interceptor to school?" Parker asked as he pulled his arm free from Aria's grip.

"Close," Aria mumbled. She could see the top of Anakin's hair now. They were almost there.

Parker glanced around. "Where did you park your car?"

"Right here," Aria said as she finally came to a stop. Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Padme all straightened up when Aria arrived. "Parker…meet…well, I'm sure you know who they are, but I'm still going to introduce you…Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Padme Amidala. Guys…meet my nerd, Parker Evans."

Parker stared openly at the three, then back at Aria, then back at the three. "All right, how much are you guys being paid to do this? This has got to be the best attempt at a prank I've ever seen from you Aria."

"Parker, it's not a prank," Aria said calmly. Parker made a scoffing noise and Aria rolled her eyes. "I'm serious Parker. Ask them anything, they'll know the answer. In detail too I bet. These aren't actors; it really is Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Padme."

Parker studied each of them closely for a moment, causing them to shift uncomfortably. Suddenly, he started firing off questions. "Alright _Anakin_, how old were you when you started your Jedi Training?"

"Nine, of course," Anakin replied easily.

"Who's your father?"

Anakin winced, and Aria was tempted to slap Parker's arm and scold him for being insensitive. "I don't have one," Anakin responded smoothly.

Parker turned to Obi-Wan. "Who was your Master?"

"Qui-Gon," Obi-Wan replied shortly.

"When did you gain the rank of Padawan?"

"Fifteen, on my birthday."

"Why do you bicker with Anakin?"

Obi-Wan actually hesitated to answer for a moment. "What do you mean by bicker?" Obi-Wan asked slowly.

"He means argue Master, obviously," Anakin said with a roll of his eyes.

"Well Anakin he could mean something else entirely, you never know, we are in a different Galaxy."

"You just don't want to answer him, especially not in front of me."

"I didn't say anything like that Anakin, I simply asked a question of clarification."

"Master, everyone can tell your lying."

"You're looking too far into it my very young apprentice; you've started to overshoot the real meaning because of how badly you want to find a hidden meaning. I simply asked a question, nothing more, nothing less."

"Alright, alright, that's enough, I have my answer," Parker said in annoyance before turning to Padme. "Who's your bodyguard?"

"Right now my Jedi Protector is Anakin, though before him, normally, it's Captain Venture."

"Why are you a Senator?"

"I was the last survivor of the Royal Family."

"Who did you meet that saved you from the ICB?"

"Master Kenobi and Master Qui-Gon."

Parker looked genuinely impressed, turning to Aria. "Wow, you got really good actors."

Aria knocked him lightly on the head with a scowl. "They're not actors!" she replied hotly. "They're the real deal!"

Parker scowled. "Hey, hey! Wanna try that again?" he taunted. "I do know karate!"

Aria matched his scowl. "And I know knock-you-on-your-rear. I am not kidding Parker! They really are Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Padme! What do I have to do to convince you of that so we can get some help from you?"

The fiery look in her eyes must have convinced him otherwise, because he sobered, staring at the two. "Well, what help do you need? Let me guess; you want to send them back to their own Galaxy, world, wherever they came from?"

"Yes!" Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Padme all exclaimed.

"Please," Aria added. "In layman's terms so I can keep up by the way."

"Woah, woah, woah; aren't you going to ask how I knew that?" Parker asked with a smirk.

Aria shrugged. "I figured it was kind of obvious."

Suddenly, Parker launched into a complicated explanation Aria was not truly awake enough to hear.

"Alternate dimensions exist through inanimate objects. We control them unintentionally. That means toys, movies, books, stories, games, are all real life worlds. For example, the dungeon and dragons game is real. Sadly though, that means that I am a female catfolk in some dimension, but it also means that we are on an adventure. I think if we can find what brought them to our world we can use it as a portal to return them. Sadly, we don't have a clue or a T.A.R.D.I.S. to send them back, but we do have them. They can tell us how they got here. If that doesn't work, maybe we can keep watch and see if more characters come through the portal. Now if I am not mistake, we can communicate with them. Luckily they speak human English."

Aria blushed, burying her face in her hands and trying her hardest to ignore the 'seriously' looks she was getting from the three. Maybe she would have been better not asking Parker anything at this rate, because now he was only serving to embarrass her as he dug around in his bag, pulling out four composition notebooks.

"Now, I have prepared a journal for extra-terrestrials coming to Earth," he continued, handing each of them a journal. Aria was sure she was going to die of embarrassment at this rate. "All of you _must_ lay low and as rule 32 states, killing a human is illegal here. If you have a problem using the journal, there are 753 rules to follow."

Aria massaged her temples lightly, suddenly regretting coming to him in the first place. "Oh my gosh you actually have a book of rules on hand? Oh my _Force_ I think I have a headache..." she groaned. With a sigh, she ran her fingers through her hair, shoving her free hand deep into her pocket. "I need to know if you have any suggestions on what I can tell and show them by the way, because they already want to see the movies."

"_NO!_ No, no, no, no, _no! _If you do that you will change their fate! Like, _a lot!_" Parker practically shouted. Aria wasn't fazed.

"But what if I've already said one or two things? And what if..." Aria lowered her voice so that the others wouldn't hear, taking a step closer to Parker as she mumbled out the next part. "What if I _want_ to change something? I mean, it's not like _any_ of their fates are good as they are."

"Then you will kill us all!" Parker argued at a regular tone of voice. "They can't know! If you tell them something it will kill them!"

_I already see a hole in your theory Parker, cause Obi-Wan is still alive_, Aria thought sarcastically in her mind. She folded her arms over her chest, staring him down. "Seriously? You can't possibly believe that: we're all still here, aren't we?"

"How do you know if you haven't already done it and we're just repeating forever?" Parker argued.

Aria stared at him for a few moments. ""I really am friends with a psycho, aren't I? _Don't answer that!_ Just...yeah...thanks...I guess..." Parker looked like he was about to say more, but Aria refused to be embarrassed any further. "All right, schools about to start, get inside, I have to point them in the direction of the library so they have somewhere to go until I'm out of school. I'll see you later."

"But—" Parker started, but Aria cut him off.

"Seriously Parker, you've got, like, two minutes. Get in there," Aria said sharply. Parker scowled, shoving his hands in his pockets and begrudgingly leaving as she shooed him away. When she was gone, she turned back to the other three, ready to crawl under her car and die from embarrassment. "He's a little…yeah…I apologize for him. I didn't expect half of that from him…I figured he would be able to give us _something _to start with," Aria said sheepishly.

Anakin was, as she expected, giving her a 'Seriously? Was that guy for real?' look. "Most of what that kid said—"

"Sounded crazy, I know. I truly believe he is some days. But he's the one who watches and reads all the stuff about alternate dimensions and traveling through time and through the universe and all that stuff. By the way, you don't have to use those journals; I highly doubt anything in there is really useful or not common sense. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if 'Don't breathe' was in there somewhere."

"Thank the Force," Anakin mumbled, leaning over and tossing the journal in his hand into the car. "There was no way I was going to abide by 753 rules."

Aria could hear the bell ringing inside and she cursed in a mix of Huttese and regular English. "Gah…crud. I showed you where the library was, right?"

"Yes, we remember," Obi-Wan reassured her. "Where to you want us to meet you at 11:30?"

"I'll show you on your way out, come on," Aria said, starting to make her way around the school. "There should be plenty of books in the library to keep you busy, there's a teen hangout in the way back that has couches and beanbag chairs and anything you need to stay comfortable. When the librarian asks just say you need to kill a few hours and you decided to hang out in the library for a while until a friend of yours gets off work."

"All right," Obi-Wan said with a nod.

Ari turned the corner and gestured towards the picnic table in the way back under a small picnic shelter by a tree. It was shrouded in shade and out of the way, the perfect place for the three to come back, not counting the cold. "That's where I'll meet you for lunch. I should have something for you to eat."

Obi-Wan nodded again. "Thank you for your hospitality," he said with a smile. Aria shrugged.

"It's nothing really," Aria said with a blush. Anakin Skywalker had showed up in her room, there was no way she wasn't going to help them. "I have to go now, or I'm going to be late."

"We will meet you at eleven thirty," Obi-Wan reassured her. Anakin nodded.

"We'll see you then," Anakin said.

"See you then," Aria said, blushing rather profoundly when she met Anakin's eyes before she gave Padme a wave and turned to rush inside, pressed for time to make it to the top floor and retrieve her stuff from her locker before the second bell.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Tribute Videos (YouTube):<strong>_

_**Illuminated by Hurts-"I was blinded" by 1jonde1**_

_**Fight Inside by Red-Anakin Skywalker's "Fight Inside" by Damsel in Damnation**_

_**Hurricane by 30 Seconds to Mars feat. Kanye West-Anakin/Vader-Hurricane by 1jonde1**_

_**Savin' Me by Nickleback-Save Me (Anakin and Luke) by WormieHerMajesty**_

_**All Alone by Kutless-All Alone by 1jonde1**_


	4. Chapter 4: Reading for Answers

_***sighs* My brain has this entire story mapped out...now I have to catch up to it dang it lol.**_

_**There might just be a second book!**_

_**Thank you for the reviews guys! I'm glad you like this! I didn't expect this one to get so much attention!**_

_**Please, continue to review and...**_

_**Enjoy!**_

* * *

><p>Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Padme hesitantly entered the library, the blast of warm air from inside much preferred to the cold of winter. While taking in the spacious floor with wooden shelves all around them, a short woman with black hair pulled up into a bun approached the three.<p>

"Can I help you with anything?" she asked Obi-Wan, who was standing in front. Obi-Wan gave her a pleasant smile.

"Nothing much. We're just killing a few hours until a friend gets off of work," he told her simply. The woman smiled brightly.

"That's no problem, take as long as you want," she said, already turning to leave. However, Obi-Wan decided he did in fact have a question.

"Well, I guess we could use some directions since we've never been here before," he told her half-apologetically. "I was wondering if you could point me in the direction of the history books? And these two would like to go to the teen hangout section our friend mentioned."

The woman nodded, still retaining her cheery smile. "Of course. The history books are all right there on your left, and the young adult section is in the far back, left corner. Magazines, instruction manuals, encyclopedias, do it yourself books, all those are in between the young adult section and the history. Adult fiction and nonfiction is on the right towards the back, and I think you can tell where the children's books are," she said with a small smile, indicating the brightly colored section that was just off to their left.

Obi-Wan nodded. "Thank you, that's all we need."

The librarian turned to sit behind the desk facing the front door. "Tell me if you need anything else."

Obi-Wan drifted over to the history section, surprised to find Padme following him while Anakin went to the back alone, probably deciding whatever was back there would be more interesting than history. At the curious look Obi-Wan gave her, Padme shrugged. "I might as well find out more about this place if we're going to be stuck here for a while."

Obi-Wan chuckled. "It seems we had the same thought."

Obi-Wan browsed through the books, picking out random books with titles like _American History_, _World Wars I _and_ II_, _Pop Culture: Then and Now_, _Economics_ (For Padme), a rather large dictionary, and a complete set of encyclopedias.

"There. This should last us a while," Obi-Wan grunted, holding all of the encyclopedias and the World Wars books while Padme held the other three. Padme chuckled, taking the two World War books off the top for him, easing his burden.

"Yes it should."

* * *

><p>Aria sighed in relief, making a beeline towards the laptops in the corner the moment she was done with her assignment. While she waited impatiently for the stupid thing to turn on, she drummed her fingers on the desk in front of her, staring off into space as she tried to think what she needed to be looking up.<p>

_Probably some basics, just to give me a refresher. Galactic Standard Time, common phrases and exclamations, maybe look up some animals, study some of the Star Wars alphabet, the Aurebesh…_

Aria jerked a little in her seat, earning strange looks and quips from her classmates that she expertly ignored. She hadn't even thought about the Aurebesh! Star Wars Basic might be the same as English in its spoken form, but she had come across the fact that it was completely different in written form: there was hardly any semblance to the English Alphabet. In fact, she had written her name with the Aurebesh out of sheer boredom one day before deciding to learn it.

So how had Anakin read the back of that action figure?

How the heck were they going to entertain themselves at a _library_?

The computer finished loading, and she immediately got on Google Chrome, pulling up Wookieepedia. Judgmental grumbles of 'Stupid Star Wars again' came from some of the classmates that could see her screen but, yet again, she ignored them.

She had some information to find and print off, both for her use and for the use of her three visitors.

As well as this mystery of how the three could read English when they'd never seen it before.

_That_ was probably what had her puzzled the most.

* * *

><p>Anakin harrumphed as a stack of books and magazines were rudely dropped on his stomach, interrupting his nap.<p>

"What the kriff—?" he started to ask, shooting Obi-Wan a brief glare. "What was that for?"

Obi-Wan smiled a little and nodded towards the pile of books and magazines that had now slipped to the floor as Anakin sat up on the green couch he had spread out on. "I figured you might be interested in those. It'll give you something to do instead of sleeping for hours."

Anakin scowled, though quickly brightened when he realized the subject of the small collection Obi-Wan had thrown at him. They were all mechanics, flight, and some books on warriors from Earth's past. "Hey, these might actually be good."

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes. "Yes, well, we have to do something while we wait."

Anakin looked over at Padme, who had a book cracked open labeled _Economics_. Did she ever give herself a break from politics? Obi-Wan had cracked open a book labeled _American History_, and he had a huge stack of books all labeled _Encyclopedia_ and one labeled _Dictionary_ between him and Padme, probably to help them with anything they came across that they was partial to this Galaxy. Anakin sighed. He would probably end up having to use them too.

Normally the utter silence would have bothered him tremendously, but he was actually able to get into the material that Obi-Wan had brought him, intrigued with the level of technology the planet was at. He kept finding himself searching through the military aircrafts, though the book about the warriors of Earth was capturing his attention here and there as well.

"It seems this world has a lot of violent history," Obi-Wan murmured under his breath, scanning through the World War books and the American History book at the same time, possibly comparing something inside.

"I'm sure it's not as bad as some of our wars," Anakin scoffed.

"You'd be surprised," Obi-Wan mused. "This country had a civil war much like the conflict brewing in our galaxy right now, just one hundred and fifty years ago. It was over slavery: the northern part of the country was for abolishing it while the south wanted to keep it. Apparently, it is the highest casualty of Americans in this countries entire history, even counting the World Wars they were involved in."

Anakin had stiffened a little. "Who won?"

"The north. Slavery is illegal in this country."

"What about the others?"

Obi-Wan leaned over and grabbed an encyclopedia. "It is in…some of the poorer countries in this world…and in a few countries in a section of the world they call Asia…" Obi-Wan blanched a little. "They sell their children into slavery for money. Other than that, there's some illegal underground trafficking that the law enforcement battles against, but no slavery."

Anakin scowled darkly before turning back to his material. To him, it seemed even this lone planet in another galaxy seemed to deal with the issue of slavery better than the Republic back home.

* * *

><p>Soon, Anakin had breezed through the material Obi-Wan had found for him; Obi-Wan had also finished his, and was currently putting the books back where he had found them. Anakin was stretched out on the couch, levitating one of the teen books in the air out of boredom. The title <em>The Chronicles of Nick: Infinity<em> grew larger and smaller as he brought it closer to his face and then pushed it back up towards the ceiling. Sensing Obi-Wan's return, however, Anakin quickly put the book back so that he wouldn't know that Anakin had been using the Force for entertainment. There was no way he wanted to hear _that_ lecture.

Obi-Wan leaned around the corner, clearing his throat. "The librarian told me it's 11:25. We have to go back and meet Aria now."

Anakin swung off of the couch, brushing himself off. "Good, I think I was about to lose my mind from boredom."

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes as they all headed for the exit. "It was only five minutes."

"A very long five minutes," Anakin quipped with a small smile.

They all shivered as the cold air hit them, having grown accustomed to the warmth inside of the library.

"I forgot we had to eat outside with her," Anakin mumbled as they made their way down the street to the school.

"I hope she managed to smuggle some food, because I'm getting hungry," Padme quipped quietly.

Anakin nodded in agreement. His own stomach was starting to twist, rumbling quietly here and there. Hopefully what Aria found would be enough to sate him.

She was waiting for them under the canopy, huddled over a blue tray piled with food as if trying to stay warm. As they approached, she looked up, leaping to her feet with a smile. "Hey!" she greeted. "I got the food; they had tuna fish today."

Anakin eyed the sandwich she offered him wearily, gingerly taking his as she passed them out. "is it safe?" he asked.

Aria shrugged. "I like them. If you want something else there're pickles, I can break up the banana, there's chips, and fruit-flavored gummies," she rattled off, pointing at each food in turn.

They all took seats at the table, and Aria pulled out a folder, pulling out several papers. Anakin watched her, trying to figure out what she was doing.

"I was looking on Wookieepedia—" she started, but Anakin cut her off.

"Sorry, Wookiee what?" he asked.

Aria blushed. "Wookieepedia. It's an online encyclopedia for Star Wars. Like a database, accessible everywhere, and exclusively about Star Wars."

Anakin nodded slowly. "All right…I think I've got it."

Aria smiled a little, shuffling through her papers. "Anyway, I was scoping through there for just, basics, giving myself a refresher and such, and then I remembered this."

She put down four papers of the same image in front of them, and the three were confused to see that she had just put the Basic Aurebesh in on each paper.

"You have the Aurebesh, but we have the Alphabet. While you have aurek, we have _a_," she explained, pointing to the small symbol underneath aurek. "Besh is b, cresh is c…"

She continued along, going through the entire English alphabet.

"Obviously, though Basic and English is the same spoken…it's completely different written," she explained.

"Your point?" Anakin asked.

"How have you three been able to read what we have here? It's nothing you've ever came across before, so how have you been reading it flawlessly? I've been trying to figure this out since I came across it."

Obi-Wan ran a hand down his beard, pondering what she said, though she didn't give him much of a chance to throw out any ideas before she continued.

"I think…I read a book once where this girl found a hollow that allowed her to talk to a boy from the past, and they both spoke completely different languages, but something in the hollow allowed them to instantly understand each other's language, no interpretation needed. I was thinking perhaps something like that might be happening, but I thought I should tell you three just in case it's only temporary."

"Perhaps the Force is translating for us?" Anakin suggested.

Aria nodded in agreement. "Perhaps…you wouldn't mind staying at the library longer until I get out of school, right?"

Anakin groaned in response and Aria laughed. "Don't worry; it won't be as long this time, I swear."

Anakin nodded towards the other papers in Aria's folder. "And what are those?"

"Oh, right; most of its printed off stuff for me, these three copies of the Aurebesh are for you because they've got the English letter or symbol under each, just in case you find you need it. I went and searched for some stuff on traveling between galaxies. No guarantees, though perhaps you guys might be able to come up with something since you're ahead of technology than us." Aria paused, running a hand through her hair with a sigh. "Have any of you had any ideas how you got here?"

They all shook their head. "No…I just know that we both saw a reflection in the glass that looked like…well, you and your room. And when I reached out to touch it…the next thing I knew we were both in your room," Anakin exclaimed.

"I think…I might have come with him because I was holding his sleeve at the time, maybe," Padme said hesitantly.

"I experienced the same," Obi-Wan said. "There was an image of your room in the glass of my starfighter."

Aria ruffled her hair. "At least we know what happened before you came through…maybe the angle has something to do with it?"

Anakin shrugged. "We can figure it out whenever we're back at your home."

Aria sighed. "Yeah, I guess we can't figure it out until then. Thankfully if we can figure out how you came through, maybe we can find out how to send you back."

Obi-Wan nodded. "That would be much appreciated. I was on the tail of the bounty hunter trying to assassinate Senator Amidala."

Aria nodded. "Jango Fett? Yeah; lucky you got that tracker on the ship."

"In my experience—"

"There's no such thing as luck," Aria finished with a grin. "Yeah, I know, but still."

Obi-Wan shifted uncomfortably. "That's very disconcerting you know."

Aria blushed. "Sorry, I don't mean to make anyone uncomfortable."

Anakin leaned forward. "So are we going to be allowed to watch one of these Star Wars movies?"

Aria picked at her fingers, thinking. Somehow, Anakin was able to retain some patience as he waited for her reply.

"Possibly…when we get home perhaps…I'll have to see about it." She looked up at each of them. "It's directly around the entire Naboo blockade. That entire span of time."

Anakin noticed the way she held Obi-Wan's gaze, and he realized that Qui-Gon's death must be in the movie.

Obi-Wan seemed to realize the same thing, but he nodded. "Okay…we'll watch it when we return to your place."

Anakin sat back, satisfied. "Good. I'd like to see these movies."

"It's the only one you're going to see," Aria said, her voice suddenly terse. Anakin blinked at her tone, a little thrown off. What was so bad about these movies?

She sighed, rubbing her eyes as they picked off the rest of her tray. "I hope I can make it through the rest of the school day. The last four hours are always the hardest to stay awake during…"

"When are you out?" Anakin asked. _How much more time do I have to sleep in the library?_

"Three fifteen," she informed him. "I'll pick you up right away and we'll head right to work. We can talk there until I'm done, then we'll go home."

"Where do you work?"

"I clean at our local clinic. My boss is amazing, you'll be fine don't worry."

The bell rang and Aria jumped, rattling the table as her knee slammed against the bottom of the table. She cursed but kept moving, grabbing the now empty tray. "I've got to go. You three might want to head back to the library before someone sees you and mistakes you for someone else or calls the law enforcement for some reason. I'll pick you up as soon as I'm out, I promise!"

Before they could say anything she turned and rushed inside, and they made their way back to the library, eager to be out of the cold once more.

"Well, I'm going to sleep. You two can keep reading if you want, but I'm sleeping," Anakin grumbled.

"I might just join you," Padme said grimly.

Obi-Wan shook his head. "I'm going to study this English Alphabet and try to memorize it."

Anakin sighed. "Sure Master, you do that while we get some rest."

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes. "It might do you some good to learn it too."

"I'll learn it some other time. I need the rest; I didn't sleep that well last night."

Obi-Wan sighed. "Fine, fine, if you insist."

Anakin smirked. It was about time he won a dispute between his master and him.


	5. Chapter 5: Home Sweet Home

_**Guess what's in the next chapter ;D yaaaayyyyy watching their past play out on a screen hahaha**_

_**This should be fuuuunnnn!**_

_**Yet again, I own none of the songs that show up.**_

_**Thanks for the reviews guys. Yet again, I didn't expect this to get so much attention! I'm flattered! Thanks for the reviews, and I do plan on delivering. Got to get all of this fun stuff set up first :D**_

_**Enjooooyyy!**_

* * *

><p>The warm air blasted Aria's face welcomingly as she strode into the library, running a hand through her hair to tame it after being in the wind even if it was briefly. Ginerva, the librarian, smiled as she entered.<p>

"Aria! I haven't seen you in here in a while," she said cheerily.

Aria gave her a polite smile. "Sorry Ginny, I'm just here to pick up some family friends."

Ginerva frowned. "The ones that have been in the back all day?"

Aria laughed, though it was hollow compared to her genuine laugh. "Yes, them. My mother's been in town all day and father's at work so they came here to kill some time till one of us come home. They're friends from New York."

"That explains it," Ginerva mused. "I thought they acted a little strange. The older one asked where the 'refresher' was. It took me a moment to realize he meant the bathroom!"

Aria snickered, already headed towards the back. "Well I'll be taking them out of your hair now."

She passed by the familiar rows of book shelves, hand trailing along the stark white wall before she neared the door beads that signaled the teen hangout section. She pushed the beads aside, walking in the small room created by two walls and bookshelves.

Anakin was sprawled out on the couch, fast asleep. Padme was flipping through a young adult book—Hush, Hush by the looks of it—and Obi-Wan was pouring over the same paper she had given him at lunch and the book Padme had. When Aria entered, the two looked up.

"I'm back; here to free you from the endless pages of the books," she said sarcastically. "How long has Sleeping Beauty been out?"

They gave her a blank look at her last statement and she blushed. "Sorry, it's an Earth thing…how long has Anakin been asleep?"

Obi-Wan sighed, starting to pack up the random books strewn everywhere. "Since we got here."

"Well, I've got the car running, we're all set to go."

Obi-Wan nodded. "We'll get these put back and then we'll leave."

Aria stepped aside, letting the two past here. "Alright. I'll wake up sleepyhead."

She did allow herself a moment to study Anakin's features while he was asleep and looking peaceful, knowing that it was a rarity to see such an expression on his face. It was the same reason she was loath to wake him up, yet she needed to get to work.

Quietly, Aria strode to his side, bending down to place a hand on his shoulder. "Anakin…Anakin wake up," she said quietly, shaking him softly.

He jerked a little, eyes fluttering open. Apparently the sight of her right there gave him a small heart attack because he jumped a little. "Uhg…when did you get here?" he mumbled out, already sitting up and wiping his eyes tiredly.

"Not even five minutes ago. We're about to leave. The others are just putting up the books."

He sighed. "Alright…we're going back to your place, right?"

She shook her head. "No, not yet. I have to go to work, but you guys can tag along for it this time. I'm not going to make you wait it out in here any longer."

"Thank the Force," Anakin mumbled, and Aria chuckled.

"I thought that's what you would say. Now come on, while there's still daylight," Aria snickered.

Anakin stretched before he followed her out of the teen room, stifling a yawn when he thought she wasn't looking. Obi-Wan and Padme emerged from the row at the far end of the building, coming to meet them halfway.

"It was nice seeing you again Aria," Ginerva called as the group made their way out the door.

"You too Ginny," Aria said automatically. Her pace quickened as she made her way to the car, eager to get out of the cold and into the heat of her car. They all took their respective seats, and Aria tapped Anakin's arm once he was settled. "Hand me the CD case before we head anywhere."

He cocked an eyebrow but did as she asked, and Aria flipped to the spot she knew by heart, pulling out the CD simply labeled 'One of Those Days…Again.'

She switched the CD out with the Star Wars Mashup, putting the CD case away and doing her best to relax as she backed out of the library parking lot. The song helped, with Warriors by Imagine Dragons being the first song.

"As a child you would wait and watch from far away. But you always knew that you'd be the one to work while they all play. In youth you'd lay awake at night and scheme of all the things that you would change, but it was just a dream! Here we are, don't turn away now; we are the warriors that built this town. Here we are, don't turn away now; we are the warriors that built this town…from dust," Aria sang softly, a tight grip on the steering wheel as she let her frustration from the school day out through the song.

"Rough day?" Anakin asked, that eyebrow still cocked questioningly.

"Nothing out of the normal," Aria responded, sighing. "Just another day for me."

With a chuckle, she looked at Anakin, giving him a smile that didn't really reach her eyes. "Some days I don't know how I do it."

"What happened?" Padme quipped from the back.

Aria shrugged. "Kids are cruel, society is messed up, and no one ever gives me a chance or listens to me. The normal stuff for me. Just some days it gets to me more than other days. I just need the moment to breathe and get ahold of myself and then I'll be fine."

Anakin frowned, but said nothing, letting her have her moment to breathe. She listened to her music, letting the familiar lines calm her down like so many days before. The Fighter by Gym Class Heros was the last one to play before they reached the medical clinic.

"But I do it for the kids life threw the towel in on. Every time you fall it's only making your chin strong. And I'll be in your corner like Mick, baby, 'til the end, or when you hear a song from that big lady. Until the referee rings the bell, until both your eyes start to swell, until the crowd goes home; what we gonna do ya'll? Give em hell, turn their heads; gonna live life 'til we're dead. Give me scars, give me pain; then they'll say to me, say to me, say to me. There goes a fighter, there goes the fighter, here comes the fighter; that's what they'll say to me, say to me, say to me. This one's a fighter."

She sighed, parking the car in the small driveway of the clinic. "All right, I'll be much more sociable now," Aria said with a small smile. "Come on, I get to introduce you to Dixie…I'll just come up with some names for you guys on the spot," she said with a wave of her hand.

They all filed through the front door, and Aria smiled at Janelle behind the front desk, who moved to open the door. "Good to see you girlie," Janelle said as Aria walked into the back. "How are you doing?"

"Good," Aria replied automatically, glancing down the hall. "Is Dixie in with a patient?"

"Yes, she should be done any moment…who're your friends?"

Aria glanced back at the three who were huddled in the patient room just behind Aria, who was standing in the doorway that lead into the back hall.

"Oh, this is Ben," she said, pointing at Obi-Wan and smiling a little at the irony. "And…Phoenix," she added, pointing at Padme.

She turned her attention to Anakin, who had an eyebrow cocked challengingly, obviously telling her to pick a good name. She was going to give him a name that started with a, but then she decided differently, deciding to play off of Vader. "And Victor. They're all friends from New York. They came to visit for a while, but no one's at the house so I was wondering if it was all right if they're here during my shift," she asked sheepishly.

Jenelle's face scrunched up in thought. "I don't know…you'll have to wait until she's out to ask her."

"That's what I would expect," Aria chuckled.

Right on cue, there was the familiar sound of the second exam door creaking open. Aria gestured for the other's to get out of the way, stepping back into the waiting room as the patient came through—one of the many elderly around town—Dixie right behind her. The brunette middle-aged woman smiled when she saw Aria.

"Hi Aria. Did you have a good day at school today?"

"Uh-huh," Aria responded automatically. "Hey Dixie, no one is at home and I'm kind of in charge of these three; is it all right if they're here with me, maybe help me clean a little?" Aria asked.

Dixie smiled at the two. "Sure, if you introduce me first."

"Ben, Phoenix, and Victor," she said, pointing to each. "They're friends from New York staying with us for a while."

"All right. It's nice to meet you," Dixie said, shaking each of their hands. "Any friend of Aria's is a friend of mine."

Aria blushed. "Thanks Dixie."

"No problem girlie," she responded, letting Aria slip back through the door and head for the cleaning supplies.

"You're the janitor?" Anakin asked as she pulled out Windex and Clorox wipes.

Aria shrugged. "I'm just sixteen. It's my first job, cut me some slack," she chuckled. "I work at the local bank too, but I'm just a part time teller, a fill in."

"Busy, busy, busy," Anakin said with a smile. Aria returned the smile, handing him the Windex and some paper towels.

"All right Professor Hinkle, why don't you help me clean up the messy, messy, messy?" Aria said sarcastically. Anakin scowled, though Obi-Wan and Padme both stifled snickers.

"So why don't you tell us about yourself to help the time go by? You already know everything about us," Padme said as they moved to the far back room, where Aria always started the cleaning.

"Well…Obviously I already said I'm sixteen, a straight A student…I have a one year old sister and eight year old brother…my mother is a stay at home mom, and my father is a military man, army branch. We've moved from place to place, though we've lived here the past five years. That's the Reader's Digest version."

"Reader's Digest?" Padme asked, watching Aria wipe down the sink.

"It's media…a magazine, like these," she said, gesturing towards the stack of magazines on the table she was moving to clean.

"Uhg, more of those things," Anakin grumbled.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to make you read it," Aria chuckled. She smirked, giving him a sly smile. "Are you ever going to get to cleaning that window?"

Anakin gave her a look, though a small smile crept into his expression, causing her to chuckle.

This was going to be the most interesting day at work ever.

* * *

><p>Anakin glanced at Aria admiringly when they were in the car after she got off work, wondering how she did it.<p>

She'd even got Obi-Wan laughing and cracking jokes while they all cleaned the clinic, slapping at each other with Clorox wipes. How was beyond him.

Now she drummed on the steering wheel, her mood a complete one eighty from how she had been earlier when she'd picked them up. It kind of reminded Anakin of himself. Her mood swings anyway, though perhaps a little more obvious. As she apparently did every time she was in the car, she was singing along to the upbeat song blaring through the stereo.

"Aww no, Conway and George Strait never did it this way back in the old days. Aww y'all, we ain't a cliché! That ain't no way to treat a lady; like a girl in a country song, how in the world did it go so wrong? Like all we're good for is looking good for you and your friends on the weekend, nothing more. We used to get a little respect, now we're lucky if we even get to climb up in your truck, keep my mouth shut and ride along—down some old dirt road we don't even wanna be on—and be the girl in a country song."

"Woman don't get much respect here?" Padme asked from the back.

Aria snorted a little. "Depends on who you ask. I agree with these girls; I think women are used as sex symbols too much. But that's just the opinion of one sixteen year old girl," Aria responded.

Anakin shrugged. "It doesn't mean your opinion means nothing."

"Out here it does," Aria mumbled bitterly before she shook herself, sighing. "Gah, the depressed mood is supposed to settle in after I get home. Let me have my moment," she chuckled darkly.

Anakin frowned. "What, are things not that great at home?"

"No."

_That's much more blunt than I thought it would be_, Anakin thought. "Okay…are you going to give us any warnings?"

Aria shook her head. "Nope. I don't think there's really any kind of warning to prepare you for my household. Sorry I'm not housing you in a happy cheery house. I can't really do anything about it," she said apologetically.

"I'm sure it'll be just fine," Obi-Wan reassured her.

Aria snorted, but offered no reply, which didn't serve to comfort Anakin any. He discreetly watched her for the rest of the trip, observing as her relaxation became gradually faked, an underlying tension obvious to him.

She didn't drop the façade of calm even when they arrived, sliding the car into the driveway. "Come on, my father isn't home yet, so you get to meet my mother and siblings," she muttered, fitting the key into the lock. The door swung open and immediately an angry woman's voice reached them.

"Aria, take her before I kill her! Joshua Davidson Neads sit your butt down and shut up before I shove this sock down your throat!"

Anakin blinked in surprise, though Aria scowled with a bitter smile twisting across her expression a moment later.

"Home sweet home."


	6. Chapter 6: Let Me Explain

_**Ok, I know some of you are bouncing off the walls for the movie, so I can assure you that it will be in the next chapter haha**_

_**But first...our Star Wars characters meet the mother...and do some snooping.**_

_**Fun fun!**_

_**Review and Enjoy, or course haha :D**_

* * *

><p>Aria gestured for the three to wait in the doorway as she crossed the kitchen, rounding the corner into the living room and out of their sight. Her eyes were wary, though she had a light, fake smile plastered on her face. A baby was screaming, and occasionally something in the house rattled as someone jumped around.<p>

"_Joshua, sit down right now!_" the woman said angrily again.

"I've got her," came Aria's calm voice.

"I've got too much to do, get them both out of my hair! And you, young lady, still have to do your chores, and your bible study. The laundry is already sorted, the dishwasher needs emptied, and the chickens have been starving all day, haven't they? You didn't feed them before you left again. Do you have homework? _Joshua, sit down and stop jumping, your shaking the entire house!_"

Anakin flinched at the woman's shouted words, glancing at Obi-Wan with raised eyebrows. Aria's calm voice came again.

"I'll get right to it ma'am. I don't have any homework, but we're going to have company."

There was a heartbeat of silence before the woman started off on a new tirade.

"You have too much to do so whatever friend you have coming over _last minute_ without telling me you're just going to have to call and cancel. You don't invite people over whenever you feel like it Aria Grace."

"I didn't invite them willy-nilly Mom, they need a place to stay until they can find a way home."

"We are not a charity house Aria, we can barely keep ourselves out of debt as it is, you can't go inviting strangers to stay at our house!"

"How Christian like of you to say Mother," Aria said sourly. By the tension thick in the air Anakin could tell that what she said had struck a nerve, though Aria rushed through the rest of her statement before anything could happen. "They were here this morning and they're here now, still in the doorway."

There was another short silence, then the sound of shuffling feet. "Why didn't you tell me?" Aria's mother said, her voice eerily pleasant after the conversation she had just come out of.

Aria appeared around the corner first, scowling lightly. In her arms was a sniffling toddler, suddenly calm in her sister's arms as Aria clutched the little one to her protectively, gently rubbing the child's back as the little one rested her head on Aria's shoulder.

Aria's mother appeared around the corner, and Anakin was slightly startled by how small the woman was after the argument he'd heard. She stood an entire head shorter than Aria, dirty blond hair falling in limp curls past her shoulders, hands on her hips, slender yet intimidating as she studied the three in the doorway with sharp green eyes that widened in surprise after a few moments.

"Aria—" she started, though Aria didn't let her finish.

"Let me explain before you jump to any conclusions," Aria said hastily, bouncing the no-longer-crying child on her hip as she came to stand beside the three. "This _is not_ Hayden, Natalie, and Ewan. Mom; meet Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Padme Amidala…and yes they are wearing my clothes."

"That's some rich joke Aria, but I want the truth," Aria's mother said sharply, giving Aria a dangerous look that would have made Anakin shrink—on the inside—had it been directed at him. Aria stared calmly back.

"I am telling the truth. Sure it's a hard to believe truth, but it's the truth," Aria responded coolly.

At that moment, a blonde headed lanky boy that came to his mother's shoulder's skidded around the corner too fast, knocking a glass bowl that had been precariously set on the counter edge to the floor.

"Joshua!" Aria's mother started, though she cut off when she realized that the bowl had never hit the floor. She watched, open-mouthed, as the bowl floated gently back to a much safer spot on the counter. She turned in time to see Anakin lowering his hand, and Aria's smug smile.

"I told you so," Aria said simply.

Anakin shifted uncomfortably under Aria's mother's gaze. The woman was looking at him like he had seven heads and spat venom. Thankfully, Obi-Wan broke the awkward silence and moved to shake Aria's mother's hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Neads," Obi-Wan said politely.

"I…It's Selina," her mother said quietly, still in shock. Aria seemed to be enjoying the woman's loss of words.

The boy—Joshua—came up to Anakin. "You're Anakin Skywalker?" the boy asked incredulously.

Anakin nodded, hating how awkward the entire situation felt. "Yes, I am."

Joshua grinned; the boy had a terrible overbite. "That's so cool! Can I see your lightsaber?"

"_No_!" Aria said firmly and suddenly. "Knowing you, you'd cut your arm off child. As well as the limbs of anyone standing too close."

"How're they here?" Joshua asked the moment her voice finished off the last syllable of her sentence.

"Yes, that's something I want to know too," Selina said coldly.

Aria sighed. "We don't know. They just showed up in my bedroom last night. I figured the best place for them until we can figure out how they get back was here. The less people that know they're here, the better. They _have_ to stay here Mom. Technically, they already have," she finished, giving her mother a pointed look. Anakin, however, sensed a nervous unrest that came from standing up to her mother.

Selina's lips pursed, but she said nothing more on the matter. "You still have to finish your chores."

Aria sighed. "I will."

Selina looked over the three once again, her gaze lingering on Anakin a little longer than the rest with a look that made him shift uncomfortably once more. "We'll…talk more about this when your father gets home."

Aria nodded. "Thank you mother. By the way, I'm going to show them Episode One…_after I finish my chores_," she tacked on hastily at the sharp glare her mother had given her.

"Are you sure—"

"I've already thought about it, I know what I'm doing," Aria said, cutting off her mother once more. Obviously, Aria repeatedly cutting Selina off was starting to get on the woman's nerves. Aria changed the topic before the conversation could escalate. "When will Dad be home?"

"Seven thirty, as usual," Selina told her.

Aria nodded. "All right." With a small sigh, Aria turned her attention back to the other three. "There's a television upstairs in the foyer next to my room, we'll watch the movie up there after I finish up with my chores," she told them, already moving to set down the little girl and get started.

We'll just…wait upstairs," Anakin responded evenly, glancing between Aria and her mother.

He didn't really feel like being in such a tension filled room much longer.

* * *

><p>"Well that was…interesting."<p>

Anakin sighed, sitting down on Aria's bed and glancing around the room for something to do while they waited. Obi-Wan folded his arms and shook his head at Anakin's statement. "I have the feeling things aren't exactly…pleasant between Aria and Selina."

"You don't need to be Force sensitive to realize that," Padme mused, her hand trailing along a pile of scarves on Aria's dresser. "Though she's such a kind person…I wouldn't have thought there'd be so much…tension and anger at home."

"Things aren't always what they seem," Obi-Wan said wisely. Anakin rolled his eyes, scanning Aria's bookshelves. A certain title caught his eye, as did that entire shelf upon further inspection.

"Master, look at this," Anakin suddenly said, pulling out one of the Star Wars books on Aria's shelf. It was titled _Labyrinth of Evil_ on the front, with Anakin's older self on the front, and Obi-Wan's older self on the back. There was also some evil droid looking guy on the front, though Anakin had no idea who he was.

"She didn't mention any books," Obi-Wan mused. He turned his attention to the books as well, browsing through the titles with Anakin.

_Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader…that looks cheery, _Anakin thought sarcastically before he skipped onto the next one.

Down the line they went, reading the titles: _Republic Commado: True Colors, X-Wing: The Krytos Trap, The New Jedi Order: Vector Prime, The New Jedi Order—Dark Tide I: Onslaught, The New Jedi Order—Dark Tide II: Ruin, Legacy of the Force: Inferno, Jedi Apprentice Special Edition 2: The Followers, Rebel Force:Target, Hostage, Renegade, Firefight, Trapped, _and _Uprising, Star Wars Journals: The Fight for Justice—Luke Skywalker._

Both Obi-Wan and Anakin froze at the name on the last one at the same time, staring at each other in open shock.

"_Luke_ Skywalker?" Anakin said in surprise. Obi-Wan was already taking the book off of the shelf, starting to read off the back.

"Skywalker Data Pad Entry. Location: Tatooine. In just half a day, my whole world has changed. The farm, my aunt and uncle…They're gone. Destroyed by the Empire. All my life I've been waiting for something to happen to me. Something important. And now that it has, I'm not sure I know how to handle it," Obi-Wan read off, glancing up at Anakin a few times to gauge his reaction.

"Another Tatooine bound Skywalker—What a curious coincidence that Aria hasn't mentioned this," Anakin said, his tone suddenly sour.

"I wonder if any of the others have this Luke Skywalker in them," Obi-Wan said curiously, starting to shuffle through the summaries and hand the books that had Luke in them to Anakin. He pulled out the entire Rebel Force Series; the same blond haired young man was on each book. He pulled out the Dark Tide books, Vector Prime, and Inferno. Obi-Wan pulled out the Jedi Apprentice book, shock flickering across his features. Anakin didn't miss his reaction.

"What's that?" he asked, snatching it out of Obi-Wan's hand before Obi-Wan could do anything about it. Quickly he read the back to himself:

'Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan and Anakin. Two Masters. Two Apprentices. One Enemy. Who are the followers of the Sith? Devoted to the study of the dark side of the Force, they live an underground existence…but their threat is growing. Although they do not have Sith power, they are on a constant search for it. Nothing—not even the Jedi—will get in their way. Dr. Lundi is the leader of the Sith followers. As he gets closer to attaining a Sith Holocron, he comes face-to-face with Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice Obi-Wan. Ten years later, when the Sith followers reappear, Obi-Wan and his own apprentice, Anakin Skywalker, must rely on Lundi to help them. But he is to be feared, not trusted. The Sith are on the rise. The Jedi must stop them.'

Anakin arched an eyebrow. He could actually see—well, read—what had happened between Lundi, Obi-Wan, and Qui-Gon. He'd been curious for a while…

Obi-Wan took the book back. "I believe we were looking for more on the mysterious Luke Skywalker?" he said evenly.

Anakin sighed, turning his attention back to the shelf. "Right Master."

Curiously, his eyes were drawn to the Dark Lord book. On the backs of some of the books Anakin had caught the name Darth Vader, and he was curious. Besides, it was like the book was calling him, _wanting_ him to read it…

As Anakin reached for the book, Obi-Wan grabbed his wrist. "Anakin, what are you doing?"

Anakin was confused, staring at Obi-Wan blankly as Padme looked on curiously. "I was getting that book…what else?"

Obi-Wan's frown only deepened. "I have a feeling we shouldn't bother that one…"

Anakin just felt bemused. "Really? Because I have a feeling we should at least look at the back. It's like it's…calling…"

He'd stretched out for the book once more, but this time the door opened, and Aria appeared. "I'm almost done, I just have to put the first load of laundry in—"

She suddenly stopped talking, taking in the scene that was unfolding in front of her. With surprising calm despite the pure panic the two Jedi could sense from her, she put the basket nestled on her hip down and crossed the room in a few quick strides. She put a gentle hand on Anakin's shoulder, but snatched the Dark Lord book off of the shelf.

"I see you found my Star Wars books," she said evenly, glancing at their pile of books about Luke on the floor.

Anakin felt a flash of guilt for snooping, but he quickly shoved the guilt aside, addressing the burning question on his mind. "Who's Luke Skywalker?" he asked sharply.

Aria froze, and Anakin could see the gears going as fast as humanly possible in her brain as she thought of how to answer him. She straightened slowly, her gaze guarded and cautious, wary even as she hesitated one more moment before answering. "A…descendent of yours…he's the main character of the half of the Star Wars Saga I told you that you weren't in."

Anakin crossed his arms over his chest, shooting her a look. "And you decided not to tell me why?"

"Because nobody knowing he existed, being anonymous, saved his life for nineteen years before…well…everything," she summed up. Anakin wasn't satisfied. Before he could open his mouth to ask for more information though, Aria cut him off.

She'd been doing that a lot to a lot of people recently.

"Look, I'll tell you what I can about him, but later. Right now I need to start up the laundry, and then we're taking things one step at a time. We'll watch the first movie, and I'll go through my books to see which ones won't compromise anything that _needs_ to be a secret. Then you guys can knock yourselves out reading those."

Obi-Wan cut in before Anakin could argue further. "Deal."

Aria had made it to the door before she stopped, turning around and waving the Dark Lord book at all three of them, Anakin committing the black armored character to memory. "By the way, this book is off limits to _all_ of you. I just have to look at the first line of the summary to know that. _I_ can't even read this book. It's too painful; I just can't get through it. None of you are going _near_ this book. Nothing good will come out of it, just a lot of chaos and suffering. Okay? Okay."

Without any further explanation, Aria left the room, her pace suggesting that she planned on making her trip as quick as possible.

Anakin sighed in frustration. "Now I know I'm not the only one who's certain she's keeping secrets."

"Anakin, that's been obvious since we first got here. She knows our entire futures, remember?" Padme stated softly. Anakin deflated a little.

"Yes, well, I wish I could start getting some real answers and not answers that just lead to more questions," Anakin said in frustration.

"Don't worry, I'm sure the time will come," Obi-Wan assured him.

Anakin wasn't assured. In fact, he was left with more doubts then he'd started with.


	7. Chapter 7: Movie Night

_**You all better like this, because It took me three days to write hahaha.**_

_**I skipped around to certain scenes, but I do plan on flashbacks throughout the story while they're thinking about the movie ;)**_

_**Gah, this took so long...I'm glad it's finished.**_

_**Don't forget to review guys and, of course...**_

_**Enjoy!**_

* * *

><p>"Popcorn anybody?"<p>

Padme, Obi-Wan, and Anakin were all situated on the upstairs foyer's comfy couch that Aria usually spread out on when she watched movies. Wanting to be a gracious host, Aria had dragged a lounge chair out of her room to sit in, placing it beside Anakin. Aria placed the giant bowl of freshly popped popcorn on the coffee table.

"I'm sorry, I can't watch a movie without popcorn, it's a must for me," Aria said with a small smile. In her mind, though, she was running through what was in the movie at a rapid pace. Would they recognize Palpatine as Sidious? Or would they find the probability so impossible that it wouldn't even cross their minds? Hopefully it would be the latter. And then there was that bit where after Yoda and Windu talked about the Sith Master and Apprentice the camera purposely focused on Sidious at the funeral—

Aria stopped her train of thought, halfway to her room where the series was stashed. The funeral. Qui-Gon's death. She'd almost completely forgotten…

Aria turned back to the three, who were watching her with curious expressions or raised eyebrows. Aria, however, was focused on Obi-Wan. "Ah…Episode one is during the Blockade of Naboo…start to finish," she explained, holding Obi-Wan's gaze. Padme caster gaze down to her hands, a small frown falling over her expression.

Understanding flashed across Obi-Wan's eyes—Anakin's as well—and for a brief moment, Aria saw the Jedi Master hesitate. However, it was only for a moment, and Obi-Wan's jaw set in firm determination. "All right. Thank you for telling us."

Aria nodded. "Okay…I'll go get the movie…" she muttered, turning back to her room. It took her a few moments to remember just where she had stashed all of the star wars stuff the night before, and once she found her blue ray box set she cradled it close to her. This set was her life, like a lightsaber was a Jedi's.

Chuckling at her analogy, Aria came back into the room, sliding the book that held the cd's out of the case. Anakin was watching her closely, studying the case. "Is that me on the cover? When I was nine?" he asked dubiously.

"Yes," she responded simply with another chuckle.

"And the other guy? He's obviously not me…"

Aria smiled a little more. "Of course not. That's Luke."

She heard Anakin shift closer in from his seat. "Could we watch one of the movies with him? You said it was a different generation, it shouldn't hurt anything."

Aria shook her head. "It might be a different generation, but they talk about what happened to you three. Maybe I'll show you a scene or two on my laptop, I have specific scenes on there I know are all right."

Anakin gave a huff of frustration, but he seemed to realize that was the best he was going to get right now. Aria swiftly pulled out the cd, placing it gently in the cd case. Down the stairs, they heard the door open and slam shut, little feet stomping up the stairs at a rapid pace. Joshua appeared around the corner, breathing heavily.

"Are you watching the Darth Maul episode?" he asked breathlessly. Aria rolled her eyes.

"Yes we are," she said tiredly.

"He's my favorite! Can I watch too?" he asked eagerly.

"Only if you stay quiet," she warned. "And get your own chair."

He scampered off to get the chair, and Aria blushed under the gaze of the other three. She didn't need to ask to know their looks were because of his Darth Maul quip. "He's a…I don't claim him."

"Really?" Anakin asked, obviously amused to some degree.

"Just...ignore whatever weirdness comes out of his mouth, we don't understand it half the time anyway, and we've known him since he was born." She got up in her chair, grabbing the blanket she'd dragged out too and wrapped it around herself. "Joshua, I'm starting it," she called.

The child was there with a chair beside Obi-Wan in five seconds flat. Part of her thought to call the child over to her to keep him in line or from spouting something insensitive or confidential, but she decided to risk it. Getting comfortable, she started the disk, explaining the cast as they waited for the movie to actually start.

"Ewan McGregor plays Obi-Wan, Natalie Portman plays Padme, Jake Lloyd plays Anakin, and Liam Neeson plays Qui-Gon."

She smiled as the opening crawl started.

"A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away," her brother said with a grin. She shot him a look to shush him as the musical score she knew by heart kicked in, signaling the beginning. Aria hummed the score with a small smile.

**'Episode I: THE PHANTOM MENACE. Turmoil has engulfed the Galactic Republic. The taxation of trade routes to outlying star systems is in dispute. Hoping to resolve the matter with a blockade of deadly battleships, the greedy Trade Federation has stopped all shipping to the small planet of Naboo. While the Congress of the Republic endlessly debates this alarming chain of events, the Supreme Chancellor has secretly dispatched two Jedi Knights, the guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy, to settle the conflict...'**

**"Captain," Qui-Gon said on the screen.** Out of her peripherals, Aria saw Obi-Wan tense upon hearing his deceased Master's voice.

**"Yes sir?" said the pilot.**

**"Tell them we wish to board at once…"**

Aria leaned back, watching the familiar scene play out only partially. In reality, she wanted to see everyone else's reaction. She knew Anakin did not know what had happened before the small party had landed on Tatooine. It would be interesting to see his reaction.

The two Jedi on screen finally removed their hoods, revealing the faces underneath. Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Padme all stiffened at how _spot on_ the actors looked to the actual people or, in Obi-Wan's case, himself.

**"I have a bad feeling about this…" the Obi-Wan on the screen said.**

**"I don't sense anything," Qui-Gon responded calmly.**

**"It's not about the mission Master, it's something…elsewhere…_elusive_…"**

"Well yeah, it's—" Joshua started, but Aria cut him off.

"Shh!" she hissed at him. "I will kick you out!"

Joshua shut up.

**"Don't center on your anxieties Obi-Wan, keep your concentration here and now, where it belongs," Qui-Gon chided.**

**"But Master Yoda said I should be mindful of the future," Obi-Wan protested.**

**"But not at the expense of the moment. Be mindful of the Living Force, young Padawan…"**

**"Yes Master…"**

"Cheeky Padawan, weren't you Master?" Anakin suddenly quipped.

"Anakin…"

"Sorry Master," Anakin said, though his grin said he certainly wasn't sorry.

* * *

><p><strong>"Distract them. I will contact Lord Sidious."<strong>

All three of the Star Wars character's leaned forward, curious. Aria realized with a start that none of them had known Sidious was behind the blockade.

_Well poodoo, too late now_, Aria thought grimly.

**"Are you brain dead? I'm not going in there with two Jedi! Send the droid."**

**"What is it?" Sidious rasped moments later.** Aria visibly tensed, though she hoped none of them realized it. Maybe Anakin did.

**"This game of yours has failed Lord Sidious; the blockade is finished. We dare not go against the Jedi."**

**"Viceroy; I don't want this stunted slime in my sight again," Sidious snarled. "This turn of events is unfortunate. We must accelerate our plans. Begin landing your troops."**

**"My Lord! Is that legal?"**

**"I will _make_ it legal."**

**"And the Jedi?"**

**"The Chancellor should never have brought them into this; kill them immediately."**

Aria, who had been straining her ears, decided that Palpatine's voice was too warped by his Sithy anger for them to realize who he was…hopefully.

**"Yes…yes my lord, as you wish!"**

"Was that a _Sith_?" Obi-Wan asked suddenly, turning on Aria immediately.

Aria blushed. "Ah…yes…yes it was…"

"I don't believe it," Obi-Wan murmured, sitting back though watching the screen with much more interest.

* * *

><p><strong>"You saved my again!"<strong>

Aria had to repress the urge to spout Jar Jar jokes as she watched the scene unfold. She was pretty sure that Anakin would be making another quip sometime soon…

**"What's this?" the on screen Obi-Wan asked incredulously.**

**"A local," Qui-Gon responded grimly. "Let's get out of here before more droids show up."**

**Jar Jar continued to follow them. "More? More did you say? Exqueeze me, but the mosta safest place would be gungan city! It's a ware I grew up. Tis a hidden city!"**

**"City?"**

**"Uh-huh."**

**"Can you take us there?"**

**"Uh, on second thought, no. Not really, no."**

**"No?" Qui-Gon asked, as if not hearing him correctly.**

**"Is embarrassing; but, uh, my friend I've been banished! My forgotten; the bosses will do terrible things to me; _terrible_ things to me if I be going back there."**

**"You hear that?" Qui-Gon suddenly asked, pointing off into the distance.**

**"Yeah."**

**"That is the sound of a thousand terrible things headed this way," Qui-Gon said, hands on his hips as he stepped closer to Jar Jar. Obi-Wan also stepped closer.**

**"If they find us, they will crush us, grind us into tiny pieces, and _blast_ us into oblivion," the Obi-Wan on screen said.**

Anakin started laughing as the on screen Obi-Wan gave Qui-Gon a little smirk. "You sure know how to be persuasive and prove a point, Master."

"Hush up Anakin."

"Where's this Obi-Wan when I need you to take a joke?" Anakin continued to chuckle.

"Anakin…" Obi-Wan warned. Anakin simply continued to laugh.

* * *

><p><strong>"We're losing power…"<strong>

**"Oh, no…" Jar Jar moaned. "Wesa die in here!"**

**"Just relax, we're not in trouble yet," Qui-Gon assured him.**

**"What yet?" Jar Jar snapped. "Monsters out there, wesa in here; all sinkin and no power? Whena usa tinking we in trouble!"**

Suddenly, at the same time, Joshua, Aria, and the on screen Obi-Wan all spoke the same thing. **"Power's back!"**

However, Joshua and Aria practically shouted it, pointing at each other and causing the other three to jump, looking at them like they were insane. They broke out arguing briefly.

"I said it first! You owe me a bar of chocolate," Joshua argued.

"No you didn't," Aria scolded. "We said it at the same time, I don't owe you anything."

"What?" Obi-Wan and Anakin both asked, confused.

"It's a contest every time we watch this, don't worry about it, we just try to see who can say it first," Aria said, waving a hand in the air. "Joshua, it was a tie; neither of us owe anything."

"I said it first…" Joshua mumbled.

Aria simply threw popcorn at him.

* * *

><p><strong>"Relax," Qui-Gon said, putting Jar Jar in a sleeper hold of sorts. Jar Jar slumped in his seat.<strong>

**"You overdid it," the on screen Obi-Wan told him.**

"I need to learn that so I can use it on you," Aria told Joshua. Joshua stuck his tongue out at her, causing her to chuckle.

* * *

><p><strong>"Queen Amidala; has she signed the treaty?" the shadowy form of Darth Sidious asked.<strong>

**"She has…disappeared my lord. One Naboo cruiser got past the blockade."**

**Sidious snarled. "I want that treaty _signed_."**

**"My lord…it's impossible to locate the ship; it's out of our range…"**

**"Not for a Sith."**

Obi-Wan visibly tensed as Maul appeared. Anakin and Padme, even Aria, all looked at him, obviously worried. However, Obi-Wan kept his face as smooth as possible. Aria was embarrassed by the excited look on her brother's face at the appearance of Maul, and she hoped that the look on _her_ face would keep him from saying something stupid.

Apparently it worked.

**"This is my apprentice, Darth Maul. He will find your lost ship," Sidious said before disappearing.**

**"This is getting out of hand; now there are _two_ of them!"**

**"We should not have made this bargain!"**

* * *

><p>"So <em>that's <em>how you all ended up on the big dust ball," Anakin mused after Qui-Gon had decided to go into town on Tatooine with Padme and Jar Jar.

"I believe someone will finally be making an appearance soon," Aria said with a small smile. She laughed, pointing towards a small speeder that was in the background before Anakin could retort. "Luke's speeder! _Years_ before he got it of course."

"I never saw that!" Joshua exclaimed. Aria smirked.

"I have an eye for those things," she chuckled. A small, nine year old Anakin came running down the stairs on screen. "Hey look, there he is!"

Obi-Wan looked genuinely curious, Padme was smiling faintly, and Anakin looked as if he was about to sink into the couch and disappear from everyone's gaze.

**"Are you an angel?" the on screen Anakin asked.** The present, twenty year old Anakin blushed furiously, covering his face with his hand and looking like he would love to be anywhere but there.

**"What?" the on screen Padme asked.**

**"An angel. I heard the deep space pilots talk about them. They're the most _beautiful_ creatures in the universe. They live on the moons of Iego, I think."**

"Put me out of my misery," Anakin muttered under his breath, obviously embarrassed.

"Don't worry, it will be over eventually," Aria chuckled.

**"I'm a person, and my name is Anakin!" the on screen Anakin said in an offended tone.** Twenty year old Anakin sunk deeper into the couch, looking for all the world like he was ready to disappear. Aria patted him on the back with a chuckle.

"Hey, you guys wanted to watch the movie," she laughed.

* * *

><p><strong>"Mom! Mom, I'm home!"<strong>

Aria glanced at Anakin. Sure enough, a look of pure, mournful longing crossed his features, and he drank in his mother's features as she appeared on the screen. Aria felt a pang in her heart, thinking of the conditions she would be in when he saw her for the first—and last—time since he was nine. She shoved the emotion deep down, hoping that neither of the Jedi had sensed it. After that, she turned half her attention back to the movie, the other half to Anakin.

Just to make sure he was all right.

* * *

><p><strong>"Tatooine is sparsely populated. If the trace is correct, I will find them quickly Master."<strong>

"They're on Coruscant!" Obi-Wan exclaimed in shock, staring at Sidious and Maul on the screen. "How did the Council not sense them?"

Aria shrugged. "Sidious is…an expert at shielding his presence."

**"Move against the Jedi first. You will then have no difficulty in taking the Queen to Naboo to sign the treaty," Sidious hissed from the shadows of the cloak.**

**"At last we will reveal ourselves to the Jedi. At last we will have revenge."**

Aria shivered at Maul's words. They were correct…for the most part. The revenge still have another thirteen years before it came to pass.

It was a terrifying thought. Especially when she realized she was sitting right next to the man who would fulfill Maul's words.

**"You have been well trained my young apprentice. They will be no match for you."**

* * *

><p><strong>"You must have Jedi reflexes if you race pods," Qui-Gon was saying a few moments earlier.<strong> Aria couldn't help but laugh as he caught Jar Jar's tongue without even looking. **"Don't do that again."**

The scene even managed to get a smile out of Obi-Wan. But it was quick to progress.

**"You're a Jedi Knight, aren't you?" the on screen Anakin asked.**

**"What makes you think that?" Qui-Gon asked.**

Anakin blushed a split second before his younger self embarrassed him again by calling a lightsaber a laser sword. **"I saw your laser sword. Only Jedis carry that kind of weapon."**

**"Perhaps I killed a Jedi and took it from him," Qui-Gon stated smoothly.**

**"I don't think so. No one can kill a Jedi."**

The present Anakin and Obi-Wan flinched, though Qui-Gon's next words caused Obi-Wan to recoil slightly.

**"I wish that was so."**

* * *

><p><strong>"You should be very proud of your son. He gives without any thought of reward."<strong>

**"Well, he knows nothing of greed," Shmi told Qui-Gon.** Everyone was interested in this conversation. No one had heard it, and no one had been told about it. Aria studied their faces to see their reactions. **"He has, ah…"**

**"He has special powers." Qui-Gon guessed.**

**"Yes," Shmi said softly.**

**"He can see things before they happen. That's why he appears to have such quick reflexes. It's a Jedi trait."**

**"He deserves better than a slaves life."**

**"Had he been born in the Republic we would have identified him earlier. The Force is unusually strong with him, that much is clear. Who was his father?"**

Anakin visibly stiffened, but of course that didn't stop the flow of conversation on screen.

**"There was no father. I carried him, I gave birth, I've raised him…I can't explain what happened. Can you help him?"**

**"I don't know," Qui-Gon said doubtfully. "I didn't actually come here to free slaves."**

By the thoughtful looks on everyone's faces, Aria was sure that the conversation was filed away into all of their brains.

* * *

><p><strong>"Stay still Ani; let me clean this cut."<strong>

**"There's so many! Do they all have a system of planets?" Anakin was asking.**

**"Most of them." Qui-Gon told him.**

**"Has anyone been to them all?"**

**"Hmm…not likely."**

**"I want to be the first one to see them all!"**

**"Ani! Bed time!" Shmi could be heard saying in the background.**

**"Ow!" Anakin exclaimed.**

**"There we are; good as new," Qui-Gon told him with a small smile.**

**"Ani! I'm not going to tell you again!" Shmi called again.**

**"What are you doing?" Anakin asked curiously.**

**"Checking your blood for infections. Go on, you have a big day tomorrow," Qui-Gon told him, earning a sigh of resignation from Anakin. "Sleep well Ani."**

**Once Anakin was gone, he pulled out his comm link. "Obi-Wan."**

**"Yes Master?"**

**"I need an analysis of this blood sample I'm sending you."**

**"Wait a minute," Obi-Wan said, leaning over.**

**"I need a midi-chlorian count," Qui-Gon told him.**

The present Anakin shot Obi-Wan an accusing glance. "Checking my blood sample without telling me, sneaking around my back. Force Master, why so secretive?"

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes. "Oh, shush Anakin."

**The on screen Obi-Wan was talking again. "The readings are off the chart…over twenty thousand. Even Master Yoda doesn't have a midi-chlorian count that high."**

Anakin straightened up in his seat at the statement, looking much too proud of himself. Aria rolled her eyes. "Egotistical much?"

"Shh," Anakin responded, smirking lightly. "I'm eavesdropping."

**"No Jedi has," Qui-Gon responded to the on screen Obi-Wan.**

**"What does that mean?" Obi-Wan asked.**

**"I'm not sure," Qui-Gon responded.**

* * *

><p>"Finally, race time!" Aria stated happily. "I love me a good race, even if I've watched it a bunch of times and know how it goes. You should see me watch Speed Racer, ha!"<p>

Obi-Wan smiled. "Well, I'm glad I finally get to see this race instead of just hearing about it."

"It's awesome," Aria assured him.

"That slimy no good rotten pile of bantha poodoo!" Anakin exclaimed angrily when he saw Sebulba sabotage his racer. "I knew the pod was fine, I should have known he did something to it!"

"Still ticks me off to this day," Aria scowled. She leaned over to Joshua. "No squealing, all right? I won't if you won't. Silence. Keep calm," she chuckled.

The podracers started up and Aria shifted in her seat out of excitement. Beside her, she could see Anakin's fingers twitching, as if he wanted to grab the controls and fly the pod through the screen, like his body was reacting to the sounds from memory and ready to race. Aria chuckled, feeling jittery excitement rush through her.

"Hand me that popcorn!" Aria asked, her excitement clear in her voice. "And go!" she exclaimed with a grin as Jabba started the race.

Of course, Anakin's pod stalled immediately.

"What a way to start," Obi-Wan quipped.

Anakin scowled. "Maybe I don't want you to see this," he grumbled.

"It'll still be good and you know it, just a little start up trouble, that's all this is," Aria stated lightly.

"I still don't like it," Anakin grumbled as his on screen self exclaimed **'Oh no!'**

"See, you're up and going again," Aria said with a grin, tapping his arm as his on screen self shot off. "Force I love this part of the movie!"

"I want a podracer!" Joshua exclaimed.

"No!" Aria said sternly as Anakin's pod started to spin out of control. "You would crash and burn in five seconds. Luke didn't even last five minutes his first time in a pod."

"So! I'd be—"

"Joshua…shush. We're watching. No you wouldn't and that is why you're not getting a podracer. It would not end well. Shush!"

* * *

><p>Suddenly she launched to her feet. "Yes!" she exclaimed, punching the air as Anakin won the race. She sighed happily, collapsing back into the chair. "Ah…I love races…"<p>

"That was just as you always described it. Not bad Padawan," Obi-Wan told Anakin with a smile.

* * *

><p><strong>"I'm going back, I've got some unfinished business. I won't be long," Qui-Gon was saying.<strong>

**"Why do I sense we've picked up _another_ pathetic lifeform?" Obi-Wan asked cheekily.**

"Hey!" the real life Anakin protested, shooting Obi-Wan a dirty look.

"Don't look at me like that Anakin, we'd already picked up Jar Jar, excuse me for thinking we'd picked up another form of him," Obi-Wan scowled. "I didn't know it was _you_."

"Still, that's insulting!" Anakin responded. Obi-Wan rolled his eyes.

"Just watch the movie."

"Of course, if that's what a pathetic lifeform does."

"You're never going to let this go are you?"

"Nope."

"Oh well."

* * *

><p>Of course the mood was entirely different whenever the part came for on screen Anakin to say goodbye to Shmi.<p>

Anakin watched with pain and longing in his eyes as his nine year old self ran back to his mother. **"I can't do it Mom, I just can't do it!"**

**"Ani…" Shmi said softly. Anakin cast his eyes down.**

**"Will I ever see you again?"**

**"What does your heart tell you?"**

**"I hope so…yes…I guess."**

**"Then we will see each other again."**

**"I will come back and free you mom. I promise."**

**"Now…be brave…and don't look back. Don't look back," Shmi told Anakin quietly.** Aria and Anakin both looked away from the screen, but for entirely different reasons. Aria struggled to hide her tears at the moment. It pained her, knowing what the next meeting would be like.

_Maybe…just maybe…it won't be like that…maybe I could do something about it_, a small voice whispered in her head.

* * *

><p><strong>"Master Qui-Gon; more to say have you?"<strong>

Aria stood at rapt attention, listening to this part of the movie with interest. She had done her best to feign boredom with the Palpatine parts, her excuse being that she couldn't stand politics. Now, however, was a completely different reason. There wasn't a person she positively could not stand on the screen anymore, and they were about to start talking about Anakin.

**"With your permission my Master, I have encountered a vergence in the Force," Qui-Gon said on screen.** Anakin sat straighter, paying just as much attention as Aria, though the real life Obi-Wan kept his attention on Anakin.

**"A vergence you say?" Yoda asked, deeply intrigued.**

**"Located around a…person?" Windu asked, his attention caught.**

**"A boy. His cells have the highest concentration of midi chlorians I have seen in a life form. It is possible he was conceived by the midi chlorians."**

**"You refer to the prophecy of the one who will bring balance to the Force. You believe it's this…boy?" Windu asked skeptically.**

**"I don't presume to—"**

**Yoda cut him off. "But you do! Revealed your opinion is!"**

**"I request the boy be tested Master."**

**"Oh, trained as a Jedi, you request for him, hmm?"**

**"Finding him was the will of the Force. I have no doubt of that."**

**Everyone looked at Windu, who sighed. "Bring him before us then."**

"Cheery," Anakin said sarcastically. Obi-Wan shot him a look that had Anakin immediately backtracking. "Sorry Master."

* * *

><p><strong>"The boy will not pass the Council's tests Master. He's too old."<strong>

Anakin scowled at Obi-Wan, who seemed to wish he could disappear into the couch like Anakin had earlier, though for entirely different reasons now.

**"Anakin will become a Jedi; I promise you," Qui-Gon told the on screen Obi-Wan smoothly.**

**"Do not defy the Council Master, not again."**

**"I shall do what I must Obi-Wan," Qui-Gon responded with a smile.**

**"If you would just follow the Code you would _be_ on the Council. They will not go along with you this time."**

**"You still have much to learn my young apprentice," Qui-Gon responded, placing a hand on Obi-Wan's shoulder.** Aria spotted the present Obi-Wan's shoulder twitch, as if in response to the action.

_He must be remembering_, she thought. _I wish Qui-Gon's death wasn't in this movie, he really doesn't have to go through that again…_

* * *

><p><strong>"Your thoughts dwell on your mother."<strong>

Aria sighed. Surely this scene would only serve to remind Anakin of his recent nightmares of his mother. It would do him no good.

**"Afraid to lose her, I think," Yoda stated.** Beside Aria, Anakin stiffened.

**"What does that got to do with anything?" the on screen Anakin asked skeptically.**

**"Everything!" Yoda exclaimed.** Aria smiled mournfully, repeating his next line with him. **"Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear lead to anger, anger leads to hate, _hate_…leads to suffering."**

The others looked at her curiously, but said nothing.

* * *

><p><strong>"It's not disrespect Master, it's the truth!"<strong>

Obi-Wan glanced at Anakin, catching Aria watching him from across the way. A stormy look crossed his features for a second. They both knew what was coming.

**"From your point of view," Qui-Gon responded evenly.**

**"The boy is _dangerous_. They all sense it, why can't you?"**

Anakin stiffened. Even Aria could tell that he was shocked and hurt. She could practically feel the rift between them growing, and it scared her.

_I've got to make amends and fix this_, she thought. _Obi-Wan's determination and care for him later will be the perfect opportunity._

**"His fate is uncertain; he's not dangerous. The Council will decide Anakin's future; that should be enough for you. Now get on board," Qui-Gon said in a reprimanding tone.**

**Obi-Wan looked for a moment like he was about to argue, but he bit back whatever his words were and did as Qui-Gon asked.**

The tension in the room was crackling; Aria could only hope that it would relax soon, and that the two could come to an understand. Or, at the least, Anakin could manage to forgive Obi-Wan for his thinking ten years ago.

* * *

><p><strong>"Jar Jar is on his way to the gungan city Master."<strong>

**"Good."**

**"Do you think the Queen's idea will work?"**

"You just question everything, don't you Master," Anakin said stiffly. Aria shot him a look.

"Anakin," she warned, shooting him a look and earning a fiery eyed look from Anakin. She didn't back down though, and he held his tongue.

**"The gungans will not be easily swayed. And we cannot use our power to help her," Qui-Gon was saying. There was a moment of silence on the screen before Obi-Wan spoke again.**

**"I'm…I'm sorry for my behavior Master. It's not my place to disagree with you about the boy. And I am grateful you think I'm ready to take the trials."**

**"You've been a good apprentice Obi-Wan. And you are a much wiser man than I am. I foresee you will become a great Jedi Knight."**

Aria sighed, settling back into her chair and watching Anakin silently for a moment. He obviously knew her gaze was on him, but he said nothing. She shook her head with a small, sad smile.

_He'll understand soon…I'm sure he'll forgive Obi-Wan for something said ten years ago._

* * *

><p>As the movie progressed, Obi-Wan gradually tensed. They all knew what was coming. Aria just hoped her brother, the great Darth Maul fan he was, would stay quiet and not hit a nerve or be insensitive.<p>

The battle of Naboo had already started. Now…now they were just waiting for what they knew was inevitable. Now they just waited for the scene of Qui-Gon's death. Vaguely, Aria noted that Anakin might never have learned just what happened. Now he would know the truth.

And see the pain his Master had suffered.

**"Stay in that cockpit!"**

Everyone in the room—not counting Joshua—tensed. They were officially at the scene they had been dreading. Aria sucked in a sharp breath as Darth Maul appeared, and Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon pushed their way forward.

**"We'll handle this," Qui-Gon told them.**

**"We'll take the long way," Padme responded.**

Anakin leaned forward in his seat, a frown on his face as he took in the scene as it began to play out. Obi-Wan had sank backwards into the chair, a pained look on his face. Already, as the on screen Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon advanced, she could see him judging his every move and thinking of what he could have done differently to save his master.

Aria hated putting him through this, but he wanted to see it. No matter what painful memory it brought up.

Obi-Wan grimaced as the nine year old Anakin on screen found himself in a ship he didn't know how to control on automatic pilot. "You're telling me that was all a mistake?"

Anakin smiled weakly. "Yeah…maybe a little…"

The movie was already back on Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan, and Aria saw Anakin wince at the kick in the face Obi-Wan took.

_Ironic considering Obi-Wan took a similar hit from Anakin in episode three_…

She squashed the thought as soon as she realized what had just popped in her head. She refused to think of the future Vader Anakin. She couldn't let that taint this experience.

_How could it not?_

**"Go back? Qui-Gon told me to stay in this cockpit, so that's what I'm going to do!" the on screen Anakin said**, snapping Aria out of her thoughts. She chuckled.

"I love your logic Anakin," she snickered.

Obi-Wan sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "How many times has that kind of thinking got us into trouble?"

"And how many times has it saved your skin?" Anakin pointed out.

Aria laughed. "Touché."

**"I'll try spinning; that's a good trick!" the on screen Anakin exclaimed.** Obi-Wan groaned.

"Anakin, how many times have I told you spinning isn't flying?"

The real life Anakin shrugged and smiled. "Hey, it worked."

They were back to the fight with Maul, and Aria winced when she saw Obi-Wan kicked off the catwalk. Anakin knew better than to make any quips here. They all knew what had happened.

As the on screen Obi-Wan was stopped by the energy shields, she could see the look on the real life Obi-Wan's face that had been expressed time and time again in the fanfictions:

_If only I had run faster. If only I hadn't let Maul separate us. If only…_

It was etched on every line of his face.

* * *

><p>Aria's breath caught in her throat as they finally came to the scene she was dreading. Obi-Wan realized it was coming too.<p>

On screen Obi-Wan was cut off from Qui-Gon and Maul by one energy shield as the two fought around the giant hole, forced to watch helplessly. Bile rose in Aria's mouth and she looked away, feeling like she would be sick at any moment. Anakin's eyes seemed frozen to the screen in silent horror, finally starting to understand the magnitude of how much Obi-Wan had suffered that day.

Aria couldn't even bare to glance at the screen. But she knew by the sounds.

There was the sound of an elbow to the face—followed by a wince from Anakin—Qui-Gon's grunt of pain and then…

**"_NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!_"**

Anakin looked away, meeting Aria's tortured gaze with his own for a moment. Terrible understanding was alight in his eyes. But of course, their attention was drawn back to the screen, watching as Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi's face contorted with rage, staring hatefully at Maul from behind the energy shield.

The gungan's were cornered. Padme was brought before the Viceroy…but it all passed in a blur. All they really cared about was Obi-Wan. They all knew how the rest went.

* * *

><p>Anakin felt numb, completely shocked by what he had seen. He'd always known that Qui-Gon's death had been hard on Obi-Wan—it had been hard on him too—but he had never thought…<p>

He had never seen such a look of fury on his master's features. He'd never thought such a thing was possible…but now…

The Obi-Wan on screen lunged at Maul, attacking him with a flurry of rapid blows, bearing down on Maul in a fury. He easily cut through Maul's lightsaber, kicking the Sith back. But he took too long in landing a final blow, and Maul was back on his feet. In Obi-Wan's continued pursuit of Maul, he took a hit to the face, causing to Anakin to flinch while Obi-Wan backfliped, using the momentum to his advantage before going right back into the fight. Maul seemed to be toying with him, taunting him…

The two locked blades, Obi-Wan bearing down on Maul with hate alight in his eyes, teeth bared in anger.

But being so off balance caught him, and Maul was able to push Obi-Wan back into the hole. Anakin leaned forward in concern, wanting to jump through the screen and help Obi-Wan. However, all he could do was watch helplessly as Obi-Wan clung to an outcropping for dear life and Maul kicked his lightsaber down the hall, sending it tumbling.

The scene suddenly switched, startling Anakin as his nine year old self reappeared on screen. He blinked, watching as he took out the droids, accidentally hitting the main reactor.

"Blowing up the droid station was an accident too?" Obi-Wan asked from off to his side. Anakin noticed his Master's voice wavered a little, but he didn't comment on it.

"Hey, things happen," Anakin said with a shrug, eyes still glued to the screen.

"Only you Anakin, only you."

Obi-Wan's voice trailed off as the scene returned to Maul and Obi-Wan.

Maul sliced at the rim of the hole, showering sparks down on Obi-Wan in an attempt to get him to let go. Anakin felt sick, seeing his Master in such a helpless situation without Anakin there to help. But he had somehow gotten out of this mess; at least Anakin was sure of that much.

Anakin watched, impressed, as Obi-Wan launched himself out of the hole, calling Qui-Gon's lightsaber to his hand before landing neatly behind Maul, cutting him clean in half.

Both pieces of Maul fell down the hole, and Obi-Wan was left standing in the room, alone with Qui-Gon. Anakin felt his gut clench as Obi-Wan rushed to Qui-Gon's side, shocked to hear the sound of tears in Obi-Wan's voice as Obi-Wan cradled Qui-Gon in his arms.

**"I-it's too late," Qui-Gon gasped.**

**"No!" cried Obi-Wan.**

**"Obi-Wan…promise…promise me you will train the boy…"**

**"Yes Master!" Obi-Wan responded immediately, his voice cracking.**

**"He…is the chosen one…he…will bring balance…" Qui-Gon said weakly as Obi-Wan nodded excessively. "Train him…"**

And with that, the Jedi that had saved Anakin, that had freed him and given him a chance at a new life…was gone. And the great Obi-Wan Kenobi cried, sobbing silently as he held Qui-Gon close to him.

Anakin's vision blurred, and he realized that he was crying. To save his pride, he quickly wiped the tears away, steeling himself. He had never truly understood what Obi-Wan had gone thought. Never. And now he knew…and he would never look at Obi-Wan the same.

* * *

><p><strong>"Confer on you the level of Jedi Knight, the Council does. But agree with your taking this boy as your Padawan learner, <em>I<em> do _not_."**

Anakin frowned, watching the following conversation with great interest. It was just Obi-Wan and Yoda, no one else.

**"Qui-Gon believed in him."**

**Yoda sighed. "The chosen one the boy may be. Nevertheless; grave danger, I fear, in his training."**

Obi-Wan seemed to steel himself, and Anakin was curious at the dark song that played in the background along the lines of _da da da, da, dada, da, dada…_

**"Master Yoda. I gave Qui-Gon my _word_. I _will_ _train Anakin_. _Without_ the approval of the Council if I must!"**

Anakin was shocked. The always rule abiding Obi-Wan Kenobi had been willing to go against the Council for him? He suddenly felt a deep sense of respect for him, a respect that he hadn't truly possessed in a long time. He had truly misjudged his Master, and he felt ashamed because of it.

**"Qui-Gon's defiance, I sense in you," Yoda said. "Need _that_, you do not. Agree with you the Council does…your apprentice, Skywalker will be."**

Anakin sighed. He would need to give Obi-Wan a lengthy apology for his behavior and for having misjudged him, as well as thank him for everything he had done for him.

* * *

><p>Aria sat back, watching the funeral grimly. Watching the movie, knowing it had all really happened…made it an entirely different experience. That much she was sure of.<p>

**"What will happen to me now?" the nine year old Anakin asked Obi-Wan.**

**"The Council have permitted me permission to train you. You will be a Jedi. I promise."**

Aria sighed, watching with only half interest as the scene shifted to Windu and Yoda.

**"There's no doubt the mysterious warrior was a Sith."**

**"Hm…always two there are. No more, no less. A master, and an apprentice."**

**"But which was destroyed? The Master, or the Apprentice?" Windu mused.**

"The apprentice," Aria quipped from her seat, throwing the other's off. She blushed. "Sorry," she muttered.

Thankfully though, her words had distracted the others from realizing that the camera had focused on Palpatine after that.

* * *

><p>Aria was able to relax, enjoying the scene of the parade and seeing everyone smile after everything that had happened it was a nice relief. As the credits rolled, Aria stood and stretched, looking at the other three as Joshua darted off to re-enact his favorite scenes in his room.<p>

"So, now you know," she said, stifling a yawn. "Star Wars: Episode One—The Phantom Menace."

"That was…interesting." Anakin spoke quietly, probably still recovering from the scene of Qui-Gon's death. Obi-Wan hadn't even moved since then.

Aria smiled at them sympathetically, putting a hand on Anakin's shoulder. "I'll…give you a few moments for you to cope."

"That would be much appreciated…" Obi-Wan said, his voice miraculously steady.

Aria nodded. "I'll be in my room when you're ready," she said softly.

Something told her it would be a while before they were.


	8. Chapter 8: The Man of the House

_**So, forgive me for taking so long, I have to get back into my routine after that long break over the holidays. Still, I should tell you I believe that this book is going to end up decently long. Possibly longer than anything I've ever done before.**_

_**If I pace it right anyway.**_

_**Anyway! Back to business. I'm ecstatic that you guys are so enthusiastic about this story! Once more, I didn't expect it to get so much attention. And to those of you who asked, our Star Wars trio might be on Earth a little longer than they would like to be.**_

_**But not ridiculously long, I swear, I'm not going to be that kind of writer haha. I will not overkill/over-exaggerate/whatever-word-fits-the-bill being stuck on Earth, I promise.**_

_**So, never forget to review, I love all this feedback!**_

_**Enjoyyyyy!**_

* * *

><p>By the time that the three Star Wars characters returned Aria was lying on her bed, pouring over one of her Star Wars books. It was a rather intense scene in Inferno, with Luke and his niece Jaina flying in the air in an attempt to stop his nephew Jacen from doing more harm. It had her riveted in place, especially since, while reading this, she knew that the Star Wars universe was real.<p>

Anakin sat down in the papasan chair across from her bed, reclining in the chair while he watched her closely for several moments. "Whatcha reading?"

"Hmm?" Aria asked before his question registered in her mind. "Oh, uh, Legacy of the Force: Inferno. Sorry, it's a really intense air battle right now…" she mumbled, sitting up but still reading.

"Who's winning?" Anakin asked.

"I'm not sure right now…I'd love to say Luke and his niece Jaina, but his nephew Jacen keeps evading them just barely."

"His _nephew_? Why's he battling his _nephew_?" Padme asked incredulously.

"Because his wonderful nephew has joined the dark side and is currently attempting to burn Kashyyyk to the ground," Aria muttered, her brow furrowing further and further in worry.

Obi-Wan, who had been standing with his arms folded over his chest, straightened, hands dropping to rest on his hips with a frown. Anakin's eyebrow raised in evident surprise, but Aria kept on reading. Something serious was about to happen, she could tell by the way this specific part was written. It was building up to something, she just didn't know…

Suddenly she bolted straight up, shock rushing through her. "No! No, no, no, no, _no!_"

"What?" the other three all asked, startled by her outburst.

"That did _not_ just happen! I don't believe it! Who the kriff wrote this karking book? What the—Blast it! No!" Aria continued to cry out, flipping over the book to see who she needed to put at the top of her 'I hate you' list.

"What just happened?" Anakin asked sharply, losing his patience. Aria had forgotten in the moment he hated not knowing what was going on.

"Um…Jaina just…fired at Jacen but Jacen pulled up at the last minute and she hit Luke dead on and his ship went up in flames…oh my Force Jaina just killed Luke Skywalker…oh my _Force, _why do these authors do this to me?"

"Wait, what? You just read Luke's death?" Anakin asked, obviously unnerved.

"Yes I did. Unless I'm lucky and it's all just a trick…though I can't see how…but if anyone can find a way out of that surely Luke can," Aria muttered, more to herself than the others as she devoured the words on the pages, rapidly flipping pages. "Maybe he got out somehow, I don't know…I need to read more," she muttered.

"Well then by all means, read on. Tell us what happens when you figure it out," Obi-Wan said instantly, giving Anakin a pointed look before he could interrupt.

"Of course, this is…wow," Aria breathed out, before uttering a groan, stretching out on her stomach and starting to chew on one of her fingernails nervousness as she continued to read.

"Now what?" Anakin asked, leaning forward.

"Jacen is holding Luke's son Ben captive and torturing him right now trying to turn him to the dark side. Why is it always Luke and his family that ends up in the middle of the worst stuff?" she groaned, shifting uncomfortably. The fact that she was telling Anakin what (at the moment) would happen to his descendants was not lost on her, nor anyone else in the room it seemed, as they all took a deep breath and leaned forward.

"Jedi aren't allowed to have attachments, what do you mean family?" Obi-Wan finally asked warily, apparently deciding to try and get answers out of Aria while she wasn't paying full attention.

"Different Order, different rules. The Jedi have evolved in the many years that have passed. In Luke's Order, families are allowed."

"Luke's Order?" Anakin asked, seeming a little thrown off.

"Yeah, Luke's the Grandmaster of the Jedi Order; has been for quite a while by now…hopefully he's still alive," she muttered.

Anakin was dazed and offered no more questions, trying to register what she had told him.

After a few more moments of silence, a grin suddenly erupted across her face and she sat up straight, startling everyone. _"I knew it!_" she shouted triumphantly.

"What, what did you know?" Anakin asked, eager to hear what had her change in mood.

"Luke is alive. Sneaky little bugger masked his presence from everyone but Ben, and when Jacen wasn't cutting Ben off from the Force anywhere, Ben could sense Luke as he infiltrated the ship all the way to when he entered the room. Cue smackdown between Uncle and Nephew," she said with a smirk. She glanced up at them and hesitated. "But…it can wait till later…I'm getting ahead of myself with this," she muttered, placing her bookmark back into the book and setting the book aside. Anakin seemed to actually _pout_, almost getting a chuckle out of her.

"Come on, it was just getting to the good part," he complained.

"I'm sure, considering there's a few more books in this series, that Luke will win…but Jacen will escape. I'll read it another time and tell you," she assured him.

Anakin scowled but nodded. "All right…so what now? Are you going to show us those clips of Luke you promised?"

Aria smiled a little. "I didn't promise, but I will show you…" she trailed off, staring out her window before her smile grew into a grin. "…show you after dinner. First: you get to meet my father."

Anakin cocked an eyebrow, and she could imagine what he was thinking. After he met her mother, of course he would assume her father wouldn't be much better. But he was; he was much different, the exact opposite even. She chuckled.

"Come on, he just pulled in the driveway," she said cheerily, already maneuvering her way out of the room.

"From one place to the next it seems, though at least we're getting some answers," Obi-Wan murmured, causing Aria to chuckle as she raced down the stairs.

* * *

><p>Anakin heard the front door open just moments before Aria entered the kitchen, and she was quick to close the rest of the distance between them. "Daddy!"<p>

The man laughed, his deep voice rumbling in his chest as he picked her up and effortlessly slung the sixteen year old over his shoulder, causing her to squeal. "What are you doing trying to sneak up on me?" he chuckled.

"Dad, put me down!" she shrieked, laughing.

The man's hazel eyes sparkled as he put down the duffle bag in his hand instead of his daughter, flashing a wide smile and running a slightly dirty hand over his short blonde hair before he grabbed her with the free hand to steady her. "I don't know, maybe I want to carry you around all day."

"Daddy! We have company, put me down!" she laughed, kicking. The man avoided her feet easily, laughing again.

"I guess I'll have to go see them then; come on!" he chuckled, walking forward as she tried unsuccessfully to wiggle away. Anakin backed up to get out of his way and retreat back into the living room with Obi-Wan and Padme. The man's footsteps came to a halt in the doorway as he took in the three, finally setting Aria down as he studied the trio with a surprised expression on his face.

Anakin didn't miss the fact that his gaze lingered on Anakin several moments longer than the other two, and even with a much more warily edge than when he'd looked at Obi-Wan. It made him uncomfortable, seeing as it was the second time that had happened. So, Anakin focused on studying the man instead to draw his mind away from the scrutiny he was currently under.

There was a military feel about the man who stood only a head taller than Aria, a war-weary look in his eyes. His boots were polished, and he held himself like a soldier, a warrior. His muscular build helped lean Anakin further to the assumption that Aria's father was a soldier; his very stance and manner suggested it.

The man finally spoke. "I believe there's some explaining to do here Aria," the man said softly; much differently than Selina had spoken.

"Dad…this is—and I'm not joking, I swear—Padme Amidala, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and…Anakin Skywalker," Aria said, hesitating before introducing Anakin just slightly. "Guys…this is my father, Alaric Neads."

There was a heartbeat of awkward silence before Anakin stepped forward, reaching out to shake the man's hand and break the uncomfortable tension that was thick in the air. "Pleased to meet you," Anakin said, his voice firm and polite to his pride.

Alaric had a strong grip, and met Anakin's piercing blue eyes with a sharp gaze of his own. "Same to you," he said, his voice equally as firm and polite. "Though I believe…Aria, are they wearing _your_ clothes?"

Aria blushed. "Well…they sort of appeared in my room last night, and I couldn't have them running around in tunics and tabards and such, and I had to work with what I had…"

Alaric chuckled. "I'll fix you two up with something other than my teenage daughter's clothes."

Selina, who had apparently been listening from the other room, suddenly appeared, looking as if she was on the war path. "You don't seriously mean what I think you do Alaric? We hardly have enough for ourselves—"

"Well we can't just necessarily throw them out to the world. We can't even give them enough to send them on their way; they'd get eaten alive by people who thought they were the actors, and then the actors would be proclaiming they're the real people, and the entire thing would be one huge mess. Besides, I'm not about to turn away someone in need when I can help them," Alaric told her softly before turning back to the three. "We can set up the air mattresses for two of you, though I don't know what we'll do for the third—"

"I already took care of it Daddy," Aria said quickly. "They showed up last night and slept on the floor, though Padme slept on one of my mattresses. We just need to set up the two air mattresses and they'll be set because I already gave them the pillows and blankets."

Obi-Wan nodded. "We're grateful for your family's generosity Mr. Neads, truly."

Alaric smiled, shaking his head. "Just call me Alaric. And it's just something any decent person would do. Though Aria, I do expect a full explanation," he added, glancing at her.

"Of course," Aria said with a smile.

"So…" Alaric started, turning back to them again. "How much has she told you three?"

"We're aware that our lives are movies, though she's only showed us the first one and nothing else," Obi-Wan started. Anakin cut in.

"And she's been telling us about a Luke Skywalker. She was before you arrived."

"Has she?" Alaric said, cocking an eyebrow as he turned to her. Aria blushed.

"Minus a few key points," she muttered. "I was going to show them some clips from The Empire Strikes Back of Luke on Dagobah."

"I see," Alaric said, seeming satisfied. Anakin, however, felt a pang of annoyance. He should have known she was giving them an edited story.

Then again, at this rate, he was coming to expect only half truths from her.

"Well, you go get your laptop. All the technical stuff we can discuss over dinner with the entire family."

"All right," Aria said, already headed for the stairs. She seemed to be an entirely different person whenever her father was around. It was kind of refreshing instead of all the lingering doom and gloom that could surround her at times.

Alaric sat down in one of the chairs, gesturing for the other three to take a seat on the couch. "So tell me; what was happening before you came here?"

Once more, the three of them told their brief story, and Alaric listened patiently and without interruption. Hoping that perhaps he would get some different results with him, Anakin decided to voice some of his questions.

"Do you know why Aria won't let us near this book that I stumbled across? It's something about a Darth Vader…" he asked curiously, watching Alaric's reaction.

Like a true soldier, Alaric didn't seem fazed, giving nothing away. "Probably because it brushes over some rather important moments in your lives and it would be wise to keep your futures a secret. Knowledge can be a dangerous thing."

Anakin scowled, though—of course—Obi-Wan nodded in agreement. The questions ended there though when Aria bounded down the stairs, laptop in hand.

"I can't wait to show you these; Luke was only twenty-two here, it'd been three years since he'd found out his heritage," she chattered.

Even though he still wanted answers for his own future, Anakin couldn't help but be curious to learn more about this Luke Skywalker; the Force even egged it on, seeming to encourage him to give to his curiosity. And so, instead of trying to coax more answers out of her about his own future, he sat back to learn more about his descendant, scooting over on the couch so that she could sit next to him.

At least it was still answers.

Even if they weren't to the questions he was asking.


	9. Chapter 9: This is Luke Skywalker

_**Another long one, yeesh. I'm just spouting these long chapters left and right in all of my stories haha.**_

_**The story should pick up after the next chapter. I just realized we're on chapter nine and we're not even past the first day haha.**_

_**Ah, I'll figure it out haha.**_

_**So, thank you for having Obi-Wan level patience with me haha.**_

_**Thank you for your wonderful reviews! I love the support and it encourages me to keep writing! Keep up the reviewing!**_

_**Enjoy!**_

* * *

><p>Anakin watched over Aria's shoulder as she powered up her laptop, eager to finally see this Luke Skywalker. He raised his eyebrows when he saw a picture of himself—the older him from the third episode he guessed—on her password screen. Aria blushed.<p>

"Don't judge please," she mumbled, typing in the password and waiting for the computer to load. She pulled up the desktop, and this time Anakin's expression wasn't discreet as he openly stared at her. He was all over her background; the current him too, so she couldn't weasel out of it. She pointed at him as she waited for something to load. "_Don't judge_."

"I think you're her favorite Anakin," Obi-Wan said with a smirk. Aria simply made a strangled, exasperated sound of embarrassment and continued what she was doing, pulling up something called Youtube.

She went to something she had saved as Star Wars Scenes on the page, on scrolled past all of the titles before any of them could register anything down to the bottom. Anakin read through the titles out loud.

"Luke Meets Yoda, Empire Strikes Back Yoda's Hut, Yoda training Luke part one, Yoda training Luke part two Do or Do Not There Is No Try. You didn't tell us Yoda was alive during Luke's time!" Anakin said, frustrated that she hadn't told them.

Aria smiled sheepishly. "You didn't ask…and besides, Yoda was nearing the end of his days by now…"

Anakin and Obi-Wan both shifted uncomfortably at the thought of Yoda dying, though said nothing as Aria selected Luke Meets Yoda. "This isn't the best quality, but it's better than nothing," she said with a small smile. The picture filled the screen, revealing a dark swamp, a shaggy haired blonde boy in tan clothes, and a filthy but familiar looking astromech droid…

"Is that R2?" Anakin and Padme both asked in shock.

"Yup. Yoda isn't the only familiar face…be forewarned, he won't be acting…himself at first…he's going to take advantage of the fact Luke doesn't know what he looks like…" Aria said.

Anakin cocked an eyebrow, weary of what she was implying, but let his gaze rivet back to the screen.

"_**Let's see now…that one there…" Luke mumbled too himself while R2 beeped and whirred quietly. He stood up, dusting off his hands. "There we go."**_

"_**Now all I got to do is find this Yoda," Luke said with a sigh, standing up and looking around. "If he even exists…"**_

_**He sighed, picking up a sack and moving it to the other side of the pitiful makeshift camp, still looking around. "It's a really strange place to find a Jedi Master…this place gives me the creeps." He paused to take a bite out of something in what looked like a military ration meal box. "Still…there's something familiar about this place..."**_

_**R2 beeped in question.**_

"_**I don't know…I feel like…"**_

"_**Feel like what?" came a sudden new, familiar voice.**_

_**Luke whipped around instinctively, blaster drawn. "Like we're being watched."**_

Yoda, to Anakin's shock, seemed to be cowering. _**"Ah! Away put your weapon! I mean you no harm! I am wondering…why are you here?"**_

_**Luke slowly lowered his blaster, though he seemed to be ready to use it at the drop of a hat. "I'm looking for someone," he finally said hesitantly.**_

"_**Looking? Found someone you have, I would say, hmm?" Yoda said suddenly, laughing his strange little laugh and getting a small smile out of Luke.**_

"_**Right…"**_

"_**Help you I can, yes, hmm," Yoda said cheerfully.**_

"_**I don't think so," Luke said with a small laugh. "I'm looking for a great warrior."**_

_**Yoda hopped off of his perch on a log with another strange laugh. "Oh, great warrior! Wars not make one great!"**_

_**Luke stood up quickly as Yoda started snooping around his camp, seeming at a loss as to what to do with this strange green troll, even as it inspected his food. "Put that down, now—**_**hey**_**!" Luke protested, moving to yank the bar out of Yoda's hand and move the food away. "That's my dinner!"**_

_**Yoda spat out the small bit he had nibbled on. "How you get so big eating food of this kind?"**_

_**Yoda clambered onto one of the boxes. Luke, meanwhile, was inspecting his dinner, tossing what Yoda had nibbled on away with a sigh. "Listen **_**friend**_**, we didn't mean to land in that puddle, and if we could get our ship out we would but we can't, so why don't you just—"**_

"_**Aw, you can't get your ship out," Yoda said in a mocking voice, currently poking around in another box.**_

"_**Hey, get out of there!" Luke protested, setting down his dinner once more and trying to stop Yoda from digging around more.**_

Anakin was currently trying to figure out how this was the same wise Jedi Grandmaster that was respected by the entire Order.

"_**Oh…no!" Yoda protested as Luke swiped something out of his hands before growling lightly and going back to rummaging around in the box.**_

"_**Hey, you could have broken this!" Luke said in exasperation, fiddling with something in his hands even as Yoda threw something out of the box behind him. Luke groaned. "Don't do that…"**_

_**Yoda simply continued to pitch more items out of the box until he finally found something to his liking: a lamp.**_

Shocked couldn't even begin to cover how Anakin was feeling watching this. His brain rejected connecting this annoying little troll to Yoda. There was no way. None at all.

_**Yoda laughed, shining the lamp at R2. "Aw…you're making a mess…" Luke grumbled, moving to pick up everything Yoda had tossed out. He noticed Yoda had the lamp. "Hey, give me that!" he grumbled, reaching for it. Yoda yanked it out of his reach.**_

"_**Mine! Or I will help you not!"**_

"_**I don't **_**want**_** your help, I want my lamp back! I'm going to need it to get out of this slimy mud hole," Luke said in annoyance.**_

"_**Mud hole? Slimy? My home this is!" Yoda protested, even as R2 made a move to snatch the lamp back. Yoda whipped around, fighting with him. "Wha—"**_

"_**R2, let him have it," Luke said jadedly.**_

_**In an attempt to retrieve the lamp, Yoda picked up his gimmer stick and started to whack R2 repetitively with the stick. "Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine!"**_

"_**R2!" Luke warned, and the droid finally let it go.**_

Anakin and Obi-Wan both shared a look of incredulity. There was no words for this moment. Just facial expressions and shock.

_**Yoda watched R2's arm retract, shutting the compartment with his gimmer stick and a satisfied chuckle.**_

"_**Can you move along little fellow, we've got a lot of work to do…" Luke said tiredly, obviously ready to be rid of the small troll.**_

"_**No, no, no, no, stay and help you I will! Find your friend, hmm?"**_

_**Luke sighed, looking like he had even less patience then he had begun with. "I'm not looking for a friend, I'm looking for a Jedi Master," he finally snapped.**_

_**Yoda's eyes got big. "Oh…Jedi Master; Yoda, you seek Yoda!"**_

_**That got Luke's attention, and he crouched down in front of the troll immediately. "You know him?" he asked in surprise and even a little desperation.**_

"_**Mm…take you to him I will!" Yoda said before he let loose a cackle.**_

Beside him, Aria snorted, obviously amused.

"_**Yes, yes, but now…we must eat," Yoda stated with a laugh. "Come! Good food!"**_

_**Luke watched him hobble away, seemingly at a loss for words and unsure if he really wanted to follow the crazy old troll. Finally, he seemed to swallow his pride and stood up. "R2. Stay and watch over the camp," he said decisively.**_

_**R2 let out a trill of protests, which Luke ignored, promptly leaving the camp behind.**_

The video ended, and Anakin sat back. "What the kriff was that?"

"Language," Aria chided him with a smile. "That would be Yoda testing Luke's nerves. It only gets better."

"There's more?" Obi-Wan asked, seeming at a cross between horrified and amused.

"Yes there is," Aria said with a smile that looked a little too evil for Anakin's taste, though he knew it was only playful. "It's next on the list, here…"

She clicked the next video, and Anakin shook his head, turning his attention back to the screen where the swamp had reappeared, but in a different place; a hut.

_**Outside in the rain, R2 raised up to peek in a window. The scene shifted, revealing Luke crouched down in a cramped position inside the tiny hut. "Look, I'm sure it's delicious, I just don't understand why we can't see Yoda now!"**_

"_**Patience! For the Jedi it is time to eat as well." Luke sighed softly at Yoda's reprimand, moving through the hut and tossing a snake distastefully out of the way to get a bowl. "Eat! Eat!" Yoda cackled in the back.**_

_**Luke stirred the substance in the small pot, grimacing after he tried it. "Good food, hmm? Good food!" Yoda called from the back.**_

"_**How far away is Yoda, will it take us long to get there?" Luke asked, avoiding Yoda's inquiry about the food.**_

"_**Not far, Yoda not far," Yoda said, chuckling mischievously as he said it. "Patience. Soon, you will be with him."**_

_**Luke moved out of Yoda's way with a sigh. "Quickly!" Yoda added. "Why wish you become Jedi?"**_

_**Luke sighed. "Mostly because of my father, I guess…"**_

"_**Oh, father! Powerful Jedi was he," Yoda said with a nod and a chuckle. "Powerful Jedi…"**_

"_**Oh come on," Luke said, nudging Yoda. "How could you know my father, you don't even know who I am!"**_

Suddenly, Luke had an outburst, one that Anakin noticed caused Aria to flinch and Obi-Wan's eyebrows to shoot up in wary surprise.

"_**Oh, I don't even know what I'm **_**doing**_** here, we're wasting our time!" Luke snapped in anger, sighing as he tried to calm down in and running a hand through his hair. He put his chin on his fist, staring at the wall in frustration.**_

_**Yoda sighed, and his entire act cropped away, his entire demeanor changing. "I cannot teach him…the boy has no patience."**_

_**Luke stared at Yoda, obviously trying to figure out why he was talking to himself. Suddenly, a new voice joined them.**_

"_**He will **_**learn**_** patience," a disembodied voice echoed.**_

_**Yoda grunted, turning to face Luke. "Much anger in him…like his father."**_

"_**Was I any different when you taught me?" the voice spoke again, causing them all to look around.**_

_**Yoda turned back to Luke. "He is not ready."**_

_**Realization—and even horror—hit Luke. "Yoda…" he gasped.**_

"Yeah, that's right Luke, register the fact that you have been griping and snapping at Master Yoda," Aria said with a smirk.

"I would die," Anakin mumbled.

_**Yoda nodded in confirmation and Luke seemed to panic. "I-I am ready! I…Ben! I-I can be a Jedi! Ben, tell him I'm rea—" Luke cut off as he reached near shouting, hitting his head hard on the ceiling and recoiling in pain. "Ah…" he groaned.**_

"_**Ready are you?" Yoda asked sharply. "What knows ready? For eight hundred years have **_**I **_**trained Jedi…my own council I will keep on who is to be trained," Yoda chided Luke, who was now sitting stiffly, alert, weary of the small being circling him. He truly seemed humbled at the moment, and Yoda simply kept humbling him.**_

"_**A Jedi must have the deepest commitment…the most serious mind…" Luke nodded, though Yoda looked upwards. **_

"_**This one: a long time have I watched. All his life has he looked away to the future, to the horizon…never his mind on **_**where he was!**_**" Yoda suddenly said sharply, startling Luke as Yoda poked his gimmer stick at Luke's chest. Apparently, his mind had briefly wandered. "What he was doing!"**_

_**Luke looked abashed as Yoda hobbled around him. "Adventure...heh…excitement…ha! A Jedi craves not these things. You are **_**reckless**_**!"**_

_**Luke drew back at Yoda's accusation, a strange look on his face, like a child who had just been severely scolded.**_

"_**So was I, if you remember," the voice said again, intervening once more.**_

"_**He is too old!" Yoda said stubbornly.**_

The comment caused Anakin to bristle, hearing a supposed descendent being denied training because the exact same reason he had been denied.

"_**Yes…too old to begin the training," Yoda said decisively.**_

_**Luke looked exasperated and even a little desperate. "But I've learned so much!"**_

_**Yoda sighed. "Will he finish what he begins?" he asked the disembodied voice as if Luke wasn't there.**_

"_**I won't fail you!" Luke said firmly. "I'm not afraid!"**_

"_**You will be…you will be…" Yoda said quietly.**_

The video ended and Anakin blinked. "That's it," Aria said. "Well…that's it of Luke meets Yoda…"

"Can't we see the others?" Anakin asked desperately, trying to keep the desperation out of his voice.

Aria chewed at her bottom lip. "It's just Luke training…nothing special particularly…I could show you Luke in the next movie, when his training is complete. It's a big difference."

Alaric, sitting in the chair next to her, cocked an eyebrow, so she clarified. "It'd only be a little bit though…perhaps the opening, the sarlacc pit? That's one of my favorite parts, and I was hard pressed to find the HD quality online of the whole scene."

"That one would be fine. I think it's perfect," Alaric said with a smile.

Anakin scowled. "Still keeping secrets I see."

Aria shrugged. "Just avoiding the parts that mention any of you three. It would probably be best if your futures remained anonymous."

"I thought Ben was his son in the future?" Obi-Wan suddenly cut it.

"Luke named him after the Jedi who found him and directed him to Yoda," Aria said, glad he'd changed the subject though a little jumpy that he had come so close to his own future. "Anyway, the sarlacc pit; Luke and friends were attempting to rescue Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt, though the original plan didn't go so well and Leia ended up captured…oh why am I explaining? We'll just watch it from the start…"

Anakin sighed, sitting back again. "Alright, roll the movie. This should be interesting."

Aria smirked and hit play, smiling a little as one of her favorite movies from the Star Wars series started to play.

'_**Episode VI: RETURN OF THE JEDI. Luke Skywalker has returned to his home planet of Tatooine in an attempt to rescue his friend Han Solo from the clutches of the vile gangster Jabba the Hutt. Little does Luke know that the GALACTIC EMPIRE has secretly begun construction on a new armored space station even more powerful than the first dreaded Death Star. When completed, this ultimate weapon will spell certain doom for the small band of rebels struggling to restore freedom to the galaxy...'**_

_**The scene shifted to a large space station hovering over a planet, looking like the massive project was still under construction. A large ship entered the top of the picture, and a smaller ship could be seen exiting it, headed for the space station in the distance flanked by two other ships.**_

"_**Command station. This is ST-321, code clearance blue. We're starting our approach, deactivate the security shield."**_

"_**Security deflector shield will be deactivated when we have confirmation of your code transmission; stand by…you are cleared to proceed."**_

"_**We're starting our approach."**_

_**Alarms went off as the ship began to dock.**_

"_**Inform the commander that Lord Vader's shuttle has arrived."**_

Anakin sat up straighter in his seat. So this Darth Vader character was in this movie, and she was actually going to let them see a clip with him. His curiosity almost overwhelmed him as he focused entirely on the screen in front of him. He could feel equal levels of concentration coming from Obi-Wan as well, though it seemed Aria was struggling to remain calm beside Anakin.

"_**Yes sir."**_

_**The ramp lowered slowly, and the entire room seemed to hold its breath as a large, intimidating character descended the ramp, clad entirely in black.**_

Anakin shivered instinctively at the horrible mechanical breathing that came from the man. It sent chills down his spine.

"_**Lord Vader, this is an unexpected pleasure, we're honored by your presence."**_

"_**You may dispense with the pleasantries commander," Vader growled in a deep and resounding voice through a voice modulator. "I'm here to put you back on schedule."**_

"_**I assure you Lord Vader, my men are working as fast as they can."**_

"_**Perhaps I can find new ways to motivate them."**_

"_**I tell you this station will be operational as planned."**_

"_**The Emperor does not share your optimistic appraisal of the situation."**_

"_**But he asks the impossible! I need more men."**_

"_**Then perhaps you can tell him when he arrives."**_

_**The commander looked horrified. "The Emperor's coming **_**here**_**?"**_

"_**That is correct commander. And he is most displeased with your apparent lack of progress."**_

"_**We shall double our efforts."**_

"_**I hope so commander, for your sake. The Emperor is not as forgiving as I am," Vader threatened before turning on his heel and swiftly leaving the room to a flamboyant fanfare.**_

"Says the guy who strangles people because they annoy him," Aria muttered with a small snicker. "Oh irony…though I guess at this point he was getting better about it."

Anakin stared at her for discussing such a thing so lightly, though Alaric shushed her. "Aria, they're trying to watch."

Aria blushed. "Right, sorry. Darth Vader everyone."

"Yeah, your favorite Sith," Joshua said with a somewhat evil looking smile for a child as he joined the small group.

"Joshua, shush," Aria said, her face as red as a Sith's lightsaber.

Anakin turned his gaze back to the screen where two very familiar droids were walking along the familiar landscape of Tatooine._** R2 beeped out a question, to which 3PO responded rather solemnly.**_

"_**Of course I'm worried; and you should be too. Lando Calrissian and poor Chewbacca never returned from this awful place."**_

_**R2 beeped and whirred in response.**_

"_**Don't be so sure," 3PO chided.**_

_**R2 beeped indignantly.**_

"_**If I told you half the things I've heard about this Jabba the Hutt, you'd probably short circuit."**_

_**The two cautiously approached Jabba's palace, and 3PO knocked on the door lightly. "There doesn't seem to be anyone here," he said almost immediately. "Let's go back and tell Master Luke."**_

_**R2 beeped at him the same moment a mechanical eye popped out, inspecting 3PO and asking a question or two in Huttese, to which 3PO responded somewhat hesitantly, explaining who they were and why they were there. The mechanical eye withdrew with a chuckle.**_

"_**I don't think they're going to let us in R2," 3PO said rather cheerily. "We better go."**_

_**As soon as he started to walk away the door began to open, and R2 rolled right in as soon as the door cleared his head. "R2, wait!" 3PO called. "Oh dear…"**_

Anakin watched in obvious amusement as 3PO fumbled after R2, jumping at every moving shadow and creature. He had to hold back his chuckle, though he didn't bother hiding his smirk. Instead he watched as the two droids were finally brought before Jabba, and 3PO told R2 to play the message from Luke. A million questions whirred through his head, though he had a feeling that they wouldn't be answered anyway, so he kept them to himself.

The young man appeared in holographic form, looking older than in the last video they'd seen him in; much more mature, but also like he had gone through much more. It made Anakin wonder what had happened in the previous film.

"_**Greetings Exalted One. Allow me to introduce myself; I am Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight and friend to Captain Solo," Luke said solemnly.**_

Even in the video Anakin could tell that Luke did not wear traditional Jedi robes, and he wore all black instead of the usual lighter colors. It was a fact he filed away for later with all of the other questions in his mind.

"_**I know that you are powerful mighty Jabba, and that your anger with Solo must be equally powerful. I seek an audience with Your Greatness to bargain for Solo's life. With your wisdom, I'm sure we can work out an arrangement which would be mutually beneficial, and would enable us to avoid any unpleasant confrontations. As a token of my good will, I present to you a gift; these two droids."**_

"_**What did he say?" 3PO asked in a near panic almost immediately.**_

"_**Both are hardworking, and will serve you well."**_

"_**This can't be! R2, you're playing the wrong message!" 3PO stated immediately.**_

Anakin frowned, trying to figure out what Luke was playing at. It was obvious he had something in mind, though what…he'd need a little more to figure that part out. He watched the other scenes unfold with mild curiosity; R2 and 3PO being prepared to serve Jabba, the dancer's death, the bounty hunter bringing the wookiee in, and his curiosity only served to grow when that same bounty hunter was snooping around later that night, approaching the frozen man Anakin assumed was this Han Solo on Jabba's wall and releasing him from the carbonite.

"_**Just relax for a moment," the bounty hunter croaked to the shivering and panicking Solo. "You are free of the carbonite. You have hibernation sickness."**_

"_**I can't see," Solo said immediately, obviously uncomfortable with the disability.**_

"_**Your eyesight will return in time."**_

"_**W-where am I?"**_

"_**Jabba's palace."**_

_**Solo froze and gasped lightly when he touched the mask on the bounty hunter's face. "Who are you?"**_

_**The bounter hunter removed the mask covering their head, revealing underneath…a beautiful woman.**_

"_**Someone who loves you," she said softly with a smile.**_

"_**Leia," Solo gasped before the woman kissed him passionately.**_

"_**I've got to get you out of here," she said, helping him to his feet.**_

_**Suddenly, a menacing chuckle echoed around the room. "What's that?" Solo asked. The laugh came again, and Solo froze. "I know that laugh…"**_

_**A curtain pulled back, revealing a very well awake Jabba and several of his servants.**_

"And so plan A fails," Aria muttered. Anakin glanced at her with a frown, watching as Solo tried to wiggle them out of their current situation before both of them were detained, lead to separate places. Solo was put in the cell with the Wookiee from earlier, Chewbacca.

"_**Chewy?" Solo asked hesitantly when he heard a low grunt. The wookiee let out a howl of confirmation. "Chewy is that you?"**_

_**Chewbacca ran to him, wrapping him up in his arms. "Ch-chewy! I c-can't see pal! What's going on?"**_

_**Chewbacca growled in response.**_

"_**Luke?" Solo laughed. "Luke's crazy! He can't even take care of himself, much less rescue anybody!"**_

_**Chewbacca made some rather protesting sounds in response.**_

"_**A…A Jedi Knight?" Solo laughed even harder. "I'm out of it for a little while, and everyone gets delusions of grandeur…"**_

_**Chewbacca grabbed Solo in a bear hug, wiping Solo's wet hair back as Solo tried to bat his hand away unsuccessfully.**_

"_**I'm all right pal…I'm all right…"**_

Anakin snorted. "He seems to have a lot of faith in his friend."

"He's also been in that carbonite for about a year now. He's missed a lot, and last he knew he still had to tail Luke to make sure Luke didn't get himself killed," Aria said with a smirk. "Now shh, I think Luke's coming now."

Anakin turned his attention back to the screen, where a hooded figure was making his way silently into Jabba's palace with little resistance until his way was blocked by two Gamorreans. The figure, who Anakin was pretty sure was Luke thanks to Aria, looked at the two for only a second before he put them both in a Force Choke long enough to get them out of his way before he continued on with purpose. The scene shifted, and Anakin could see that everyone was asleep, and poor Leia was in a golden bikini, chained to Jabba's side. The sight caused a flare of anger in Anakin, though he snuffed it out whenever Luke came back into the picture. Jabba's little henchman hurried to stop Luke before he could enter the room.

"_**I must speak with Jabba," Luke said calmly, looking like he was ready to push right past the man.**_

_**The man continued to protest, and Luke eyed him for a moment. "You will take me to Jabba now," he said calmly, waving a finger.**_

Anakin smirked. _Typical Jedi Mind Trick…_

"_**You serve your master well, and you will be rewarded," Luke said as the man hurriedly brought him before Jabba.**_

"_**At last! Master Luke has come to rescue me!" 3PO exclaimed as the man woke up Jabba. The gangster was immediately put into a bad mood.**_

"_**I must be allowed to speak," Luke said calmly despite the Hutt's bad mood and sharp accusations. The fact he had just used another mind trick almost could have slipped away from the watcher's attention had Jabba not gone into a rage when his man fell under Luke's influence, shouting at him that he was weak minded and throwing him aside.**_

"_**You will bring Captain Solo and the wookiee to me," Luke said sharply, finally removing his hood so everyone could see his face.**_

_**Jabba simply laughed at him, waving off is demand easily.**_

"_**Nevertheless," Luke said calmly, slowly pacing forward closer to Jabba. "I am taking Captain Solo, and his friends. You can either profit by this, or be destroyed. It's your choice but I warn you not to underestimate my powers."**_

Anakin raised his eyebrows. "A bold one isn't he?"

"Not any more than you are," Aria said with a small smirk. "Shh, it's about to get interesting..."

"_**Master Luke! You're standing on—" 3PO started, trying to warn Luke of something before Jabba cut him off, denying Luke's request.**_

_**Luke's still form snapped into action in a split second, his hand reaching out and calling the nearest blaster into his grip before a trapdoor opened below him, dropping him into the same pit the dancer had fallen into, as well as one of the Gamorrean guards.**_

Luke landed with a grunt, but he was quick to get back on his feet, tossing his robe aside as he gazed upward at the members of Jabba's palace who watched him from above. Anakin noted that he didn't have a lightsaber by his side, which caused him to frown. Why in the world would he be crazy enough to go into Jabba's palace without his lightsaber?

The giant metal door in the pit opened, revealing a huge rancor and causing Anakin to grimace. This wasn't good. It wasn't good at all.

It seemed Luke was thinking the same thing, eyes wide as he slowly backed away while the Gamorrean guard started squealing and tried in vain to get away. The rancor simply grabbed the creature, devouring him in three easy bites. It turned to Luke, who grabbed a bone in defense.

"Yes, because that is going to help against a rancor," Joshua scoffed.

"Hey, Luke is amazing, he made do with what he had," Aria chided him the same time the rancor grabbed Luke.

Anakin watched, mildly impressed as Luke jabbed at the rancor's mouth with the bone before wedging it between the rancor's jaws. Angry, the rancor dropped him, and Luke dashed for cover in a small space between the rock wall and the ground. The rancor snapped the bone in half, making a move for Luke, who had just spotted a door on the other side of the pit.

Luke smashed the rancor's hand with a nearby rock before leaping to his feet and sprinting past the creature for the door on the other end. The first door opened, but past that was a metal grate that he grasped in desperation, yanking on the metal as if that would do something before he turned around to face the rancor once more.

And the creature was nowhere near happy.

_**Breathing heavily, Luke's eyes zoomed in on the button just a few feet away. "The gate…"**_

He grabbed another rock on the floor, and instead of running to the button, now way too close to the rancor to be safe, he threw the rock at it. Sparks flew, but the gate's door slammed shut, the spikes impaling the rancor's neck easily and killing it. Everyone paused before giving a cry of outrage, though Anakin breathed a sigh of relief with Luke. At least Luke didn't have to worry about the rancor now.

_**One of the guards burst through the gate, grabbing Luke by the throat until the beast tamer pushed him out of the way, though he simply grabbed Luke again, dragging him away.**_

Jabba barked out some orders and the guard that Anakin had a feeling there was something special about left to follow them promptly. Anakin had to hide a small smile as the beast tamer cried over the dead rancor. It was kind of amusing.

_**Luke was dragged up the stairs, hands bound behind his back. "Han!" he called out.**_

"_**Luke!" Solo responded immediately, being dragged in from the opposite hall.**_

"_**Are you all right?" Luke asked as they were shoved forward, Solo rather awkwardly given his blindness.**_

"_**Fine. Together again, huh?"**_

"_**Wouldn't miss it."**_

"_**How we doin?"**_

"_**Same as always."**_

"_**That bad huh?"**_

Aria chuckled behind Anakin, who had also snickered. "I love that part," she said.

"_**Where's Leia?" Solo asked.**_

"_**I'm here," she responded from in front of Jabba.**_

"_**Oh dear…" 3PO said before he started translating. "His High Exaltedness, the great Jabba the Hutt, has decreed that you are to be terminated…immediately."**_

"_**Good, I hate long waits," Solo said sarcastically.**_

"He sounds so much like you Anakin, it's unnerving," Obi-Wan said with a wry grin. Anakin simply rolled his eyes.

"_**You will therefore be taken to the Dune Sea, and cast into the pit of Carkoon, the nesting place of the all-powerful sarlacc," 3PO continued as Luke listened intently, nodding slowly.**_

"_**Doesn't sound so bad," Han muttered.**_

"Not bad? He's not from Tatooine, is he," Anakin said in a voice of incredulousness.

"Nope," Aria said simply.

"_**In his belly you will find a new definition of pain and suffering as you are slowly digested over a thousand years," 3PO finished softly.**_

_**Chewbacca gave a loud howl.**_

"_**On second thought let's pass on that, huh?" Han said, a little wide eyed. Luke, however, was **_**smiling**_**.**_

"Why the kriff is he smiling?" Anakin asked in shock.

"Because he has something up his sleeve. Shush and you'll find out," Aria said with a smile.

Anakin scowled. Everyone was all too happy about this.

"_**You should have bargained Jabba," Luke said in a threatening tone of voice, continuing to speak even as he was shoved away. "That's the last mistake you'll ever make!"**_

"How Jedi like of him," Anakin quipped.

"He's just stating fact," Aria responded.

_**The group made their way to the pit on skiffs, and soon it showed Luke and Solo on their small skiff.**_

"_**I think my eyes are getting better…" Solo said slowly. "Instead of a big dark blur I see a big light blur," he stated sourly, blinking as if it would help while Luke stood calmly at his side. Luke smiled a little.**_

"_**There's nothing to see. I used to live here you know," he said rather matter-of-fact like.**_

_**Han gave him a look. "You're going to die here you know. Convenient."**_

Anakin snorted, a bitter scowl on his face.

_**Luke rolled his eyes. "Just stick close to Chewy and Lando. I've taken care of everything…"**_

_**Han had a look between incredulousness and a scowl on his face. "Oh…great…" he said sarcastically.**_

Once more the scene shifted to Leia, and Anakin looked away. He'd been looking away during all of these scenes. He didn't want to see it. He looked back at the screen however when he heard a crash and a familiar beep. It seemed 3PO had just run into R2, who was serving drinks on Jabba's skiff.

"_**I'm terribly sorry—" 3PO started before he cut off. "R2! What are you doing here?"**_

_**R2 beeped and whirred in reply.**_

"_**Well I can see you're serving drinks, but this place is dangerous! They're going to execute Master Luke and if we're not careful us too!"**_

_**R2 whirred.**_

"_**Humph, I wish I had your confidence."**_

_**The skiffs finally came to a stop at the pit, and the long tentacles could already be seen reaching out of the pit. Luke was pushed to the front and he peered with what appeared to be only half interest down into the pit, studying the teeth, tentacles, and beak.**_

"_**Victims of the almighty sarlacc; his Excellency hopes that you will die honorably. But should any of you wish to beg for mercy, the great Jabba the Hutt will now listen to your pleas," 3PO translated for Jabba. Luke stood straight and defiant, released from his bonds. But it was Solo who spoke, and Luke watched him warily from his peripherals at what he said.**_

"_**3PO! You tell that slimy piece of worm ridden filth that he'll get no such pleasure from us!" Solo stated boldly. However, he ruined the effect by pausing. "Right?"**_

_**Luke stepped forward. "Jabba…this is your last chance. Free us, or die."**_

Anakin's current frown deepened. _What has he got up his sleeve_, he wondered, frustrated he couldn't figure out what had him so cocky.

_**Jabba simply laughed before giving the command, and Luke was prodded forward down the plank towards the pit. He stood on the very edge, peering up at the larger skiff instead of down towards the sarlacc. Then, he turned his head and nodded.**_

Anakin sat at the edge of his seat as the guard he had a gut feeling about nodded in turn, as Luke made eye contact with R2 who whirred softly in response and moved to confirm he'd seen the silent signal, as Han looked around as clueless as him, and Leia stood in tense anticipation for whatever was coming next. He could hardly take the suspense, and the music wasn't helping either.

_**Luke held his gaze with R2 and saluted, a small two finger salute to R2, and a compartment in R2's dome opened, revealing the hilt of a lightsaber.**_

Luke dropped from the pit, turned around, grabbed the edge, and used it to catapult himself over the guards the same time that R2 shot the lightsaber through the air and into Luke's awaiting hand. Luke immediately ignited its green blade, and proceeded to cut down the guards that held them prisoner. The guard Anakin had a gut feeling about ripped off his helmet and engaged the two guards behind him instantly. Guard after guard tumbled down into the sarlacc pit below as they quickly overcame the small force on the skiff.

"_**Easy Chewy," Luke said soothingly as he freed the struggling wookiee. Up on the larger skiff, a gunner got set up and shot close to the turncoat guard, causing him and the guard he was struggling with to go overboard. The turncoat guard clung to a wire for dear life the same time a bounty hunter in Mandalorian armor appeared, launching towards the skiff.**_

_**Luke turned to face the bounty hunter, cutting his gun clean in two easily with his lightsaber. A shot came at them, landing somewhere behind Luke, who was momentarily distracted as Solo and Chewbacca hit the deck.**_

"_**Chewy! You're hit? Where is it!" Solo cried out. Luke was halfway towards moving to help them when the bounty hunter he seemed to have momentarily forgotten fired a steel cable that wrapped tightly around Luke, momentarily immobilizing him.**_

"And that, Anakin, is why you must always be mindful of your surroundings and don't let your feelings cloud your judgment," Obi-Wan quipped from off to the side. Anakin scowled but didn't say anything, too engrossed in what was happening in front of him.

_**Luke deflected a shot the gunner above had taken at him, deflecting it back at the bounty hunter and freeing himself of the cable and knocking the bounty hunter somewhere they obviously could not see him.**_

"_**Han! Chewy!" the turncoat guard called.**_

"_**Lando!" Solo said in recognition.**_

_Alright, not a turncoat guard; one of their friends who infiltrated the palace. So that's the Lando they were talking about,_ Anakin thought.

_**As more blaster fire came towards them from the other small skiff, Luke turned, running across the top of their skiff before jumping to the other skiff, already starting to cut down the thugs that were on the skiff. The bounty hunter got back to his feet, obviously zeroing in on Luke.**_

"_**Boba Fett? Boba Fett?" Solo asked Chewbacca, who was trying to warn Solo. "Where!" he shouted, turning around and accidentally damaging the bounter hunter's jetpack and sending him straight into the sarlacc pit.**_

Obi-Wan stiffened at the mention of Boba Fett, and Anakin tried to figure out why. Maybe the name was familiar to him…Anakin would have to remember to ask him later.

_**Up on the big skiff, Leia struck at a power panel, knocking out the lights on the skiff and shutting the blinds. Immediately she grabbed the chain that was hooked to the horrid collar on her and jumped behind Jabba, hooking the chain around his throat and pulling back with all of her might.**_

"_**Lando grab it!" Solo said as the scene changed to the blind Solo trying to rescue Lando.**_

"_**Lower it!" Lando hollered back.**_

"_**I'm trying," Solo growled.**_

_**Leia, miraculously, managed to kill Jabba, hopping down from her perch to try and find a way out of her chains.**_

_**Outside, the skiff Lando was dangling from and Solo and Chewbacca were still on got shot and tilted dangerously, putting Lando dangerously close to the sarlacc pit. **_

"_**Grab me Chewy!" Solo shouted.**_

"_**I'm slipping!" Lando interrupted.**_

"_**Come on, grab it!" Solo shouted at Lando.**_

_**The action drew Luke's attention, and it seemed he set his new target as the gunner continued his assault on the skiff. Luke launched himself towards the larger skiff, starting to scale up its side free-hand and even tossing another minion of the Hutt into the sarlacc pit on his way.**_

"_**Grab it, almost," Solo was encouraging Lando, who was slowly slipping closer to the pit. "You've almost got it!"**_

_**Luke finally made it up the skiff, and the first person he cut down was the gunner, finally freeing his friends from his deadly barrage before he turned to the other guards on top of the skiff.**_

"_**Gently now!" Solo was saying. "A-alright, easy, easy, hold it Chewy!"**_

_**One of the sarlacc's tentacles grabbed Lando, who gave a shout of terror.**_

"_**Chewy!" Solo shouted.**_

_**Up on the skiff, Luke was fighting off a new wave of guards who came at him on top of the large skiff.**_

"I hate how it keeps switching the point of view so fast," Anakin grumbled as it quickly switched back to Lando and Solo.

"_**Chewy, give me the gun!" Solo shouted, snatching a blaster from Chewbacca and taking aim. It only served to panic Lando a little more.**_

"_**Han!" **_

"_**Don't move Lando!"**_

"_**No wait! I thought you were **_**blind**_**!" Lando shouted back, waving his hand in the air.**_

"_**It's all right I can see a lot better! Don't move!"**_

"_**A little higher, just a little higher!" Lando practically screamed.**_

_**Solo fired despite Lando's panic and hit true, causing the sarlacc's tentacle that he had shot to withdraw, freeing Lando who immediately grabbed the rod Solo had been offering him.**_

"_**Chewy, pull us up!" Solo commanded. "Up Chewy, up!"**_

_**Meanwhile, R2 was freeing Leia from her chains.**_

"_**Come on, we gotta get out of here!" she said firmly as she stood up. R2 differed to go help 3PO while she moved on to the top of the skiff where Luke was.**_

"_**Leia! Get the gun!" Luke commanded, never tearing his eyes from his current opponents. "Point it at the deck!"**_

_**Leia hurried to do as she was told, slowly moving the gun in place.**_

"_**Point it at the deck!" Luke shouted again. He raised his hand to deflect one shot, but a guard came out of nowhere and shot him in the hand.**_

Anakin flinched while Luke hissed in pain before lashing out at the guard with his lightsaber. "That's got to hurt."

However, Luke simply continued on as if he didn't have a hole in his hand.

Anakin watched as 3PO and R2 jumped off the skiff—or in 3PO's case got pushed off the skiff—before the point of view changed again. Luke was running to a rope on the deck, holding out his hand and gesturing for her.

"_**Come on," he said, holding her tightly to him before he fired the gun and jumped from the deck, swinging onto the small skiff the others had managed to commandeer. "Let's go, and don't forget the droids!"**_

"_**We're on our way," Lando said with a grin as he powered up the skiff, leaving the scene behind moments before the giant skiff exploded into flames. The picture changed to show two different ships leaving the planet behind, perfectly in line before they split in two different directions. The scene focused on the smaller ship that Luke was piloting.**_

"_**I'll meet you back at the fleet," Luke informed the others.**_

"_**Hurry, the Alliance should be assembled now," came Leia's voice.**_

"_**I will," Luke assured her before Solo's voice came through.**_

"_**Hey Luke, thanks…thanks for coming after me…" Solo said, sounding uncomfortable with how soft he seemed. "Now I owe **_**you**_** one."**_

_**Luke laughed softly but said nothing. R2 beeped out a question. "That's right R2, we're going to the Dagobah system."**_

_**He reached over and grabbed a black glove, pulling it over his…mechanical hand.**_

"Whoa, whoa, whoa; when did that happen? When did he lose a hand? And when did cybernetic appendages look so normal?" Anakin suddenly blurted out.

"_**I have a promise to keep…to an old friend…"**_ _**Luke said on screen.**_

"In the last episode Darth Vader cut off Luke's hand in a duel. That's where it came from. And this is much farther in the future, so the appendages are much more realistic by now," she explained.

Anakin nodded, looking back at the screen to see Darth Vader once more on the screen, except now he was…kneeling.

He had a bad feeling about this.

Aria moved to stop the video, but Anakin grabbed her wrist. "No, wait, I want to see this."

Aria hesitated. "I don't think that's the best…"

"I want to see this," he said again, much firmer and annoyed she was trying to stop him again.

She thought for a moment as an old man appeared, hidden mostly by the hood of his black robe as he descended the ramp with the help of a walking stick.

Why would this Darth Vader character bow to such a fragile old man?

Then again…maybe this was the Emperor they had been discussing earlier.

"Alright fine," Aria sighed. Anakin released her wrist the same moment that Vader rose from his knees and began to walk with the old man.

"_**The Death Star will be completed on schedule," Vader said in his deep mechanical voice.**_

"_**You've done well Lord Vader," the old man croaked, his voice somehow sharp despite its raspy quality. "And now I sense you wish to continue your search for young Skywalker."**_

_**Vader was silent for several moments besides his mechanical breathing. "Yes my Master," Vader said rather softly for his intimidating persona.**_

"_**Patience my friend. In time, he will seek you out. And when he does, you must bring him before me…he has grown strong…only together can we turn him to the dark side of the Force."**_

"_**As you wish," Vader said slowly.**_

"_**Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen," the old man croaked before letting out a cackle that bounced around the room.**_

Anakin shivered from the sound, but stopped when Aria hit the pause button. "That's the end of the scene," she explained before Anakin could complain.

"Who was that?" Anakin asked slowly. Obi-Wan was also watching Aria for any reaction. Neither of them missed the fact she hesitated.

"The Emperor," she finally answered. "Vader's Sith Lord Master."

Anakin shifted uncomfortably. "It was just a movie, but I still feel cold…like it was important…"

"Because it was…but it's not a topic for today," Aria said hesitantly. Alaric was watching the conversation closely, listening to every word.

Anakin scowled, but Aria waved off any oncoming questions. "I'll give you answers once I figure out where I need to draw the lines."

IN the kitchen, a shrill beep suddenly sounded, making Padme, Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Aria all jump. Alaric snickered at them.

"It seems dinner's ready," Aria said with a smile. "You three are in luck; we're having chicken enchiladas tonight."

Anakin sighed. Still none of the answers he wanted, but still answers to keep him satisfied. But he didn't bother pushing the subject any more. He was starting to get a little hungry…

Alaric stood up with a sigh. "I want to talk to you alone when we're done eating dinner," he told her softly.

"Okay," Aria said easily.

Anakin genuinely hoped that she wasn't in trouble for any reason. Especially if it had anything to do with him.


End file.
